DEV Community: Terry Keeney

Just A Developer

Terry Keeney — Wed, 24 May 2017 23:51:43 +0000

The explosion of languages, frameworks and platforms in the software development world has created a bit of a double edged sword for those fancying themselves as technical generalists capable of doing just about anything. On the one hand it's created a world of ever more shiny new things offering a limitless supply of new toys to experiment with. On the other it's highlighted the stark difference between what I'll classify as coders and developers - making interactions with recruiters and other technical-interfacing leypersons increasingly more infuriating.

In my grossly generalized world the Coder can be identified by their battling cry: "That's a problem, I'm a developer". The Coder is characterized by his proficiency in a narrow range of chosen skills. The Coder will progresses and becomes better in his niche by sheer practice and repetition alone.

By contrast the Developer's single greatest skill is in being an applied learner. Quite simply the Developer has a knack for grokking new [languages|frameworks|platforms] and becoming proficient very quickly. There is no problem beyond their reach for they enjoy building at any level stack.

So, before you ask again ... NO I AM NOT A:
... back-end developer
... front-end developer
... java developer
... React developer
... developer...

for my fundamental understanding of the underlying principles and my willingness and propensity to learn whatever is asked of me means ...

I am JUST a Developer

This was originally posted on my own site back in January. A confluence of events this week has fueled the same rage that inspired that post so I share here again.

Becoming The Duck

Terry Keeney — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 05:35:26 +0000

Last week I read a fantastic article that perfectly captured the inner turmoil and deepest fear developers ultimately face as they make that dreaded ascent from being a contributing member of a dev team to managing and overseeing said team. That sentiment - combined with an altitude of 35,000 feet and an hour and a half to kill - has inspired me to finally pen my own ornithologically themed thoughts on tech leadership.

The concept of rubber duck debugging boils down to audibly describing your problem to an inanimate object (like a rubber duck) in an effort to spark an idea or solution. Making the transition from developer means it's your turn to become that inanimate object. It's time to become the duck.

Over the last few years I've noticed that when a member of the team has a problem (sometimes) the best thing you can say is nothing at all. Your time for talking is done. More often than not they just need a sounding board to bounce their problems off. It almost certainly won't be easy at first - after all who doesn't love flexing their genius and solving the hard problems - but there comes a time when you step aside and go from problem solver to solution enabler.

A day will come when you too make the journey. It won't necessarily be easy but it'll soon be obvious that your input in these matters is almost never actually needed. The challenge comes in recognizing when someone needs a duck and making yourself available in this capacity. Once you've mastered this you'll find more and more of your conversations end with an abrupt "Never mind! Figured it out!"

Avoid the Seagull, Embrace the Duck.

That is all.