This blog post is all about: "divide & conquer" rule's applicability for compensation considerations :), why getting down to individual skills is a waste of time, what's the point of rewarding loyalty, how to incentivize people so they specialize, what to do with project heroes (& their reward expectations) and why you should read the forthcoming posts in the series :)Part I of the series can be found here.Let's summarize how far did we get until now: one can't always determine directly how much (tangible) value an individual brings, so as human beings are poor in absolute evaluations, it's probably…
All posts in career development
This blog post is all about: why salaries are so tricky in software engineering, an evolution in approaching the topic of promoting/compensating people, why market evaluation can't be relied upon, what are 2 best ways to evaluate how much you're worth, are people always comparable?Salaries in Software Engineering have always been a tricky topic. Because of several things: industry evolving so fast, companies being so different & position naming so inconsistent, experience & proficiency not possible to "deduce" directly out of tenure and at last but not least - huge disproportion between demand & supply on the job…
This blog post is all about: that Ninja doesn't differ from Rockstar, why Fullstack != Versatile, is switching tech stacks a failure, what does the tech swap's success depend on, why bother re-specializing if job market is a paradise for any tech, how learning Elixir changed my C#-fu.When browsing programming job offers you're getting attacked by very different position descriptions:nouns that depict position vary: Engineer, Software Engineer, Programmer, Developer, Ninja, Rockstar, ... :)seniority adjectives vary: junior, mid, regular, aspiring, senior, lead, leader, principal, ...the only part that remains the same (& always appears) is the name of the technologyApparently…
This blog post is all about why you don't keep your best code in a drawer :), what does it mean to discount your work, why sometimes you have to be a bit "selfish" (and that it's not against the teamplay), that you're both brand and product, there's no excuse for staying shy (and not doing anything about it) and that even if the job market situation doesn't require it (now), you should think more long-term when it comes to "selling" out yourself.Disclaimer: potentially surprisingly - this IS a blog post for software engineering professionals of all levels & positions,…
This blog post is all about: why (& how) your workmates are not your families (and not even your friends - first), what's an unwritten "protocol of co-operation", why we're ruining good teams with empathy (& leave disappointed afterwards), how does mutual admiration society apply to professional scenarios.Disclaimer: Before we get into the topic, please consider getting familiar with few of my older posts first, this will help in getting my point (& justify some bold words I'll use to back it up ;P):Praise for Radical CandorScoundrel Leadership: an unexpected (?) praise ofIf you think Agile is not about…
This blog post is all about how spoiled we are when it comes to our salaries :), why theory alone doesn't make you a "senior", that stepping back may be the best way to make a meaningful step forward, who is Salva Ballesta, why you need to start finishing & why skills make only 1/3 of proper candidate evaluation.Disclaimer: not all companies are alike, not all hiring managers are alike & there's always someone desperate enough to break all the rules :) What I present here is my point of view & the rules I follow personally. Feel free to…
This blog post is all about ... designing nuclear power-plants, insatiable desire to put CQRS, eventsourcing & microservices in every software product, engineers' maturity, what's more important: problems or solutions & how JIRA can help (yikes!).There are some terms in IT you'll probably never learn at any CS University course. Yet, they are too important to omit & one of them is "bike-shedding". Frankly, I haven't heard this particular term until last year's outstanding presentation by Jimmy Bogard.But let's assume that for whatever reason you haven't so far & don't want to watch Jimmy's vid. Basically ...Bike-shedding happens when…
TL;DR Many people in the industry are so used to free high-quality content available on-line, that they can't accept the simple fact you actually have to pay for some stuff. Software crafts(wo)men who should be the first to preach for digital rights respect are the first one to breach them (& boast happily about that) - e.g. by stealing content from on-line services that (for a reasonable price) help them boost their careers. Disclaimer: no, I haven't changed my mind & I'll keep blogging in English; however this particular post is related to situation I find…