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About This Talk
When people pivot in their careers, especially from ones that are vastly different from software development, are fresh out of school, or reach a new stage of their career, they are often at a loss as to how they can provide value to their new industry or role. Even worse if they don't have a good career plan at their company. How do you provide value without direction?
As a developer, you might think that the only way you can contribute to your team is through the lines of code that you produce. But in actuality, the job of a developer is significantly more socio-technical than purely technical. As you progress in your career, the less tangible ways to provide value become more important. Learn how you can do that from your very first day.
Takeaways
Providing value as a developer for the following situations:
- Onboarding Experience
- Documentation
- Product Quality
- Team Culture and Alignment
- Peer Development
Slides
>> Click here to download slides
🌈 Comment below and ask me questions — I might just answer them during my live speaker discussion!
About Thuy Doan
Thuy became a developer through a bootcamp in 2016.
Before that, she was a business graduate with social media marketing experience at a small advertising agency in her hometown. When she became a developer, she experienced what many call "imposter syndrome" and often positioned herself as, "not that useful (yet)". Managers would tell her it takes time to develop the technical intuition and she believed them but it was still hard. Over the next 4 years, she found ways she could leverage her soft skills to provide value at work. She would like to share that with others who were once in her shoes.
Let's connect!
This on-demand talk is part of CodeLand 2021 — a virtual conference brought to you by CodeNewbie & DEV on September 23 & 24, 2021.
Top comments (81)
Definitely want to reiterate Thuy's statement that your new and fresh perspective is very valuable. New developers and team mates have a super power, they don't know what's assumed or unspoken and can help draw that information into the foreground.
Thank you Thuy from the guy that's soon to be joining a new team. This helps me remember a super power I'll have that will slowly diminish as I'm there longer.
We can remind each other :)
Hey everyone, we would love to know what questions you'd like @clearlythuydoan to answer in the Speaker Discussion later on today - please keep those questions flowing!
Just started on my first newbie dev job and I'm kinda lost as I don't really have a team. It's just me reporting to my very busy boss. It's hard to show value when you spend 9-6 writing code all by yourself and only reports when you are having trouble or when things are already done.
I was looking forward for this one!
Hi Tiffany,
You're not alone! It's hard on smaller teams sometimes when you feel as though you have low visibility. I'm right there with you!
Hi Elias, thank you so much for the support!
I'm in a Discord of peeps where some of them are contractors and, because they don't have a team to lean on, they come into the Discord and join a little virtual coworker space as a support system. If you want to know about it, let me know :)
Hi, Thuy! I'd love to join this server - I have been using Discord to find people to study together and it's very helpful, having a coworker space would be lovely. As someone who comes from an arts & communication career, I don't really have people around me who are in tech.
Same, Tiffany! Before this Discord, I barely had any tech friends outside of work. And I mean, your workplace isn't forever so best to have a support system that isn't tied to a temporary thing. Please email me at clearlythuydoan@gmail and I can send you the details for your consideration :)
Hey, I enjoyed your talk!
I was wondering if you can expand on how to approach suggesting improvements to meetings? It can be really daunting to make those kinds of suggestions as an intern or junior dev that has just joined a team.
Hi Nad, in case you missed the live panel, I'll answer your question here:
This is influenced by the individual's personality and the culture of the environment. But that aside, there are some things you can do. If the improvement you want to see is personal and directed as an individual - for example, the meeting organizer is not prepared and it has negatively impacted the efficiency of the meeting - you should give this feedback privately in a 1-on-1 conversation. Give them direct, timely, but tactful feedback. Remember to center your speech around their work and not make it about them as a person. If your improvement is related to the meeting itself or a process, you can consider saying these sorts of things in the meeting if you are afraid to come across to "my way or the highway": "How difficult would it be to implement [this suggestion]. I'm finding it [how you feel given current processes]" OR "How does everyone feel about [this current process]. I'm find it [how you feel given current processes]. Would it help anyone else if [suggestion]." This way you frame your feedback around the success of the team and not just something that bothers you. If you are not comfortable giving the feedback during the meeting, that's OK too. 1-on-1 feedback is also valid. You can talk to the meeting host who controls the structure of the meeting. You can also talk to your manager, if you believe they will advocate for you on your behalf. Let me know if you have any follow-up questions :)
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question here as well Thuy =)
Pretty excited for this one :)
Same. I want to be ready for my first dev roll!
Me too :D
Let's get into the talk!!
This one is perfect timing, I just landed my first freelance dev contract with Tiny Organics and will be onboarded in the next two weeks.
Taking notes 📝
WOOHOO! I hope you enjoy the ride :)
Thank you 🙌
A few weeks ago I was just helping my counsin to setup an enviromant and we lost 2 days trying to connect to nearly created MySQL server.
We keep receiving an "not allowed connection" with no reason and after dig a lot in stackoverflow questions, I finaly find one comment in a really old post about how creating a strong password was resulting in this error!!
When we note down the obstacles we run into, they become nuggets for others to find :)
That tweet about the dev environment setup is waaaayyyyy too relatable 😅
BIG OOFS.
Im about to start my Job search so this is some really get info
If you don't have a support system of fellow devs along the way, feel free to reach out :)
Well do! I'll take as much help as I can get
Loved it! So, prior to my journey into self taught development, I was a firefighter paramedic for 10 years... I'm sure this goes for other fields, but in the medical field there are very technical things we did, and then there was bedside and patient contact things we do, or, "socio-tech" skills. Thanks for the awesome talk!
I feel that! I used to work in social media advertising and there was the technical side of it with the data and the ads and the writing ability to write copy for social, product, and radio even! But there's also the very human part of it. And I guess as long as we work jobs that involve other people, we need that socio-side :) Thank you!
With more and more technologies coming out each and every day, I as a student who has just landed
in the field of coding is confused to choose from the different types paths and
technologies that are out there. So, my question is "How to choose the right path?"
Hi Ujjwall, in case you missed the live panel, I will give my answer here:
First, I think it's essential to define what the "right path" means to you. Does it mean the path with the most money? The path with the trendiest technology? That path of most fulfillment? And then accepting, as the world is, that that definition may change and adapting along with it. For the path of the most money, you may find your answer in job postings. What are people looking for and paying top dollar for? For the trendiest path, you can find your answer through technology newsletters either for languages or frameworks. You can also keep up with the trends via being active on Tech Twitter or by joining a Tech community on Discord. For the most fulfilling path, this requires a lot of self-exploration and experimentation. The path will not be linear. And if you're someone that is unsettled by that and needs to see that a non-linear path will be OK, I recommend checking out this tweet thread: twitter.com/cherthedev/status/1260.... I read it when I want to remind myself that my non-linear path is what gives me my unique perspective as a developer and that everyone, even you, has a unique perspective and value to give :)
Thanks for a great talk, @clearlythuydoan - as an aspiring career changer it definitely helps to take a step back and think about how I've onboarded and welcomed my team to think about how I would like it to happen at my next job. Also loved what you said about removing the pain points for future folks - taking what you've experienced and helping make things better for the next cohort is the best way to pay it forward!
Yes! Pay it forward always! Thank you, Rich :)
Thuy I loved what you mentioned about the onboarding process. paraphrased from the live video "everyone on the team goes through the initiation process. and if the onboarding process isn't smooth, take that opportunity to make it better for someone else in the future who will be on the team"
I really enjoyed this talk. Discussing things that allow you to assist the team while you are still trying to learn the domain and get up to speed was very relatable. Some of the points you made about asking clarifying questions on criteria were very enlightening on how to more effectively start tasks. Thank you Thuy!
"Discussing things that allow you to assist the team while you are still trying to learn the domain and get up to speed" = YES YES YES! Thank YOU Austin :)
Thanks for providing this talk today! It was nice to hear from someone from the GTA too (I'm located just west of Toronto). I'm a recent boot camp graduate looking to start a new career in the field so this was timely.
Yes! Bootcamp buddies! If you ever have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out. I get a lot of people considering bootcamps that ask me about many things: whether it's worth it, how getting the first job was like, where to find a job etc. Thank you :)