Senior engineers often ask me, 'What do I need to do to get promoted?’ While technical skills are crucial, the most effective engineers possess qualities that go beyond writing code. Here are a few traits that I feel highly effective engineers embody: finishing over starting, fostering growth in others, and mastering communication.
1. Focus on Finishing Over Starting
Effective engineers understand that completing work is more valuable than starting work. This principle manifests in several ways:
- Supporting Others' Initiatives: Instead of always pushing their own ideas, top engineers often throw their weight behind their colleagues' projects, helping to bring them to fruition.
- Collaborative Completion: By reviewing pull requests, providing constructive feedback, and actively supporting peers, these engineers ensure that work reaches the finish line with high quality.
- Making Tough Decisions: Sometimes, finishing means knowing when to stop. Effective engineers aren't afraid to recommend cancelling work when it's clear that a chosen path is no longer viable, saving time and resources in the long run.
By prioritising completion, these engineers ensure that value is consistently delivered and that the team's efforts aren't wasted on half-finished projects.
2. Ensuring Growth for Those Around Them
Great engineers are not just focused on their own development – they actively contribute to the growth of their entire team:
- Educational Code Reviews: When reviewing code, they go beyond surface-level comments. They provide in-depth feedback, often linking to relevant documentation or best practices, turning each review into a learning opportunity.
- Mentorship Through Pair Programming: By engaging in pair programming sessions, especially with junior team members, top engineers share their problem-solving approaches and coding techniques in real-time.
- Optimising Team Processes: Whether it's introducing new methodologies or streamlining existing ones, these engineers constantly look for ways to improve how the team works together.
This focus on collective growth creates a rising tide that lifts all boats, resulting in a more skilled and efficient team overall.
3. Communicate Better Than Anyone Else
Perhaps the most crucial pillar is communication. Highly effective engineers are outstanding communicators:
- Transparent Thought Processes: They don't just share results; they articulate their thinking, making their decision-making process clear to all stakeholders. This way assumptions can be tested earlier. Providing proactive status updates with potential risks or things you’re investigating further helps to build trust and gives others the opportunity to provide potential solutions or advice.
- Setting Clear Expectations: By communicating frequently and in detail, they ensure that everyone has a clear understanding of timelines, potential roadblocks, and project scope. This gives stakeholders the opportunity to raise any differences in expectations they might have early on, rather than further on in a project where changes may be more difficult to make.
- Realistic Estimations: While software development is inherently unpredictable, effective engineers provide the best possible estimates and clearly communicate the factors that might affect timelines. Delays and issues are best handled when shared early — if your stakeholders and peers know about issues, they might be able to help.
When engineers excel at communication, it reduces misunderstandings, allows for better decision-making across the organisation, and builds trust with stakeholders.