Given the uptick in people looking for roles right now, I thought I’d share some tips for getting hired as a developer. These tips are things I look for when hiring developers, honed over many years and countless interviews. My aim is to shed some light on what people over the other side of the desk are thinking. Perhaps armed with this perspective, you will think differently about your own approach. ...
The intention of Performance Review 101 is to give engineering managers an understanding of why we have this process, and what’s involved. I’m sure you’ve all been in one of these meetings, and no doubt loathed having to prepare. But you only get out as much as you put in, and they’re a great way to develop your employees. Not convinced? Then read on… Why do we need a Performance Review? So first up, what is the point of this meeting and the hours of prep that go in prior? The key reason we have a performance review is to understand and improve your employees performance. This is with respect to both their personal needs and goals, but also the business needs. It’s not to say their performance has to be poor, but rather how can we help take it to the next level? To be clear, this is not an exercise in criticism and demoralisation. If there are performance expectation gaps, the review should aim to bridge them in a constructive manner. ...
Effective use of your time can make a real difference to the impact you have. By employing good organisational techniques, you can achieve much more in those valuable hours than otherwise. Following the lessons I learned as a manager , I wanted to run through a couple of methods I use to structure my day both personally and at work. Note that these are methods which work for me. I am not writing this as a golden bullet for all time management. It’s important to understand what works for you and tailor a system accordingly. ...
The next book in my series of reviews is called The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni . The book focuses on what the author describes as the five dysfunctions which cause teams to underperform. Whilst the book is written from a board level, it’s clear to see how each of these dysfunctions could apply to any level or size of team. In fact as I was reading this book, I often spent time contemplating examples in my day job. The book is written predominantly as a fable meaning there is a narrative to follow. I enjoyed this aspect as it really brought the dysfunctions to life and enabled me to imagine them at work. ...
We all know the story. One minute you’re a junior developer learning your first regular expression. A few years and promotions later, you’re put in charge of a team of developers. Simple right? Just keep on cranking out the code, review the teams work and everything should fall into place. Except it doesn’t. It turns out being a manager is a completely different job to be being a developer and most people feel the pain as they make this transition. So having been through this myself, I thought I would share some of my personal lessons learned as a manager. ...