People who add their opinion, but will work as a team if the team decides something. Allows for forum and safe psychological spaces.
Be friendly when doing the opinions as much as you can! :) It's a hard balance to do this sometimes, I've noticed. Not only myself, but others as well, especially when we get defensive or insecure. It kind of sucks.
The first question I always do is to ask them to explain what they working on recently. What was the overall project, what has been their contribution, what was the benefit to the customer, what has been the biggest challenge and how did they succeed. Tells you about communication skills, strategic understanding, empathy and customer focus.
Plus patience, curiosity, and a sense of humor helps a lot.
The first question I always do is to ask them to explain what they working on recently. What was the overall project, what has been their contribution, what was the benefit to the customer, what has been the biggest challenge and how did they succeed. Tells you about communication skills, strategic understanding, empathy and customer focus.
Plus patience, curiosity, and a sense of humor.
Someone who learns fast and wants to learn. I can teach skills to anyone, but if they don't have the drive to learn then the lessons are not going anywhere.
Also, I look for humility and lack of embarrassment re: their code. I think a lot of devs suffer bc they're to afraid to show other people their code till it is "perfect". Code is never ever ever going to be perfect and in the mean time those that are embarrassed are missing the opportunity to learn and teach their code and perspective. There is plenty to be learned from reviewing in progress code and if the person can't get over their fear of sharing code (and really, understanding that everyone writes"bad code" at points) they're missing out.
Yeah, and in general to all devs: with code I find that the end isn't nearly as valuable as the journey there. If you work w a team of devs, share and review each other's code and talk to each other about it. It's one of the most valuable resourcs you have access to.
Kim Arnett [she/her] leads the mobile team at Deque Systems, bringing expertise in iOS development and a strong focus on accessibility, user experience, and team dynamics.
Latest comments (40)
People who add their opinion, but will work as a team if the team decides something. Allows for forum and safe psychological spaces.
Be friendly when doing the opinions as much as you can! :) It's a hard balance to do this sometimes, I've noticed. Not only myself, but others as well, especially when we get defensive or insecure. It kind of sucks.
Really good point! :)
The first question I always do is to ask them to explain what they working on recently. What was the overall project, what has been their contribution, what was the benefit to the customer, what has been the biggest challenge and how did they succeed. Tells you about communication skills, strategic understanding, empathy and customer focus.
Plus patience, curiosity, and a sense of humor helps a lot.
The first question I always do is to ask them to explain what they working on recently. What was the overall project, what has been their contribution, what was the benefit to the customer, what has been the biggest challenge and how did they succeed. Tells you about communication skills, strategic understanding, empathy and customer focus.
Plus patience, curiosity, and a sense of humor.
What & how many books do you read? This helps me separate the "Grower" from the "Shower". Voracious readers inevitably have the following qualities:
Someone who learns fast and wants to learn. I can teach skills to anyone, but if they don't have the drive to learn then the lessons are not going anywhere.
Also, I look for humility and lack of embarrassment re: their code. I think a lot of devs suffer bc they're to afraid to show other people their code till it is "perfect". Code is never ever ever going to be perfect and in the mean time those that are embarrassed are missing the opportunity to learn and teach their code and perspective. There is plenty to be learned from reviewing in progress code and if the person can't get over their fear of sharing code (and really, understanding that everyone writes"bad code" at points) they're missing out.
Yeah, and in general to all devs: with code I find that the end isn't nearly as valuable as the journey there. If you work w a team of devs, share and review each other's code and talk to each other about it. It's one of the most valuable resourcs you have access to.
Humility, empathy, and patience.
Being humble about their own skills.
Seeing the world from the point of view of others.
Understading that things take time and sometimes decisions affect them on nthe short term but are the best long term plan.
Humility, team work attitude, and desire to become a good leader/mentor/teacher.
Ability and drive to learn. Have they taught themselves anything new?
Tech is constantly changing - you must be able to keep up!
Oh yes.
Simplicity. Pragmatism. To accept that, in the real world, second best practice is often good enough.