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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.
Latest comments (81)
Nice piece "not that useful (yet)" I've had this stuck in my head for a while now I hope I get pass this soon.
I love this talk @clearlythuydoan
And it's definitely not just for early-career devs.
It wasn't until last year that learned not to rush my onboarding process!
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"
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 :)
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!
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 =)
Very informative. Thanks, Thuy.
In my “previous life” as an “old-era” developer (or maybe it was just me, I’m starting to think), I perceived that software development was a pure technical journey.
Pointing out that software development is a socio-technical journey is a moment of realization that blew my mind open into the reality of the industry: a lot more of soft social skills than technical skills; both are “must haves”.
Thanks, Thuy. 👍🏻
Hi Loreto, I definitely also thought at the beginning of my journey that I had to be the very mathematical non-person type of stereotype that people sometimes think we are and maybe there's truth to it haha. But as long as you work with others, even remotely. Even if you never meet in person or even virtually. Even if all you ever do is send PRs to each other, those intangibles will really be worth something!
A developer that lacks coding skills can be trained.
A developer that lack communication and teamwork skills cannot be trained
I have definitely heard others agree that the second one is very hard to change after the fact haha!
Thank you Thuy for sharing your point of view on how to get a start in the development field, it can be intimidating especially when you don't know where or how to start. This was great, thank you! :)
I'm reminded now of an LOTR quote. Sometimes you need a light "when all other lights go out" Thank you :)
This was an awesome and super useful talk!