Kind of meaningless statement though. Even if they do, which Im not sure is true in general case because you have to be good yourself to know who’s really good, they are not telling you anyway.
Have you ever found your opinions of things, including people’s relative worth changing over time? Perhaps as you had time to understand the context, or as time revealed the benefit of an action that wasn’t so clear initially?
Frankly, I think you might be confusing "productive" with "smart" or "easy to work with". I've had several past team mates at several companies gush to me about staff eng Bob and while I agreed Bob was a cool guy (or just talked good game) I also knew his last few projects were a failure, it was 100% his fault, and management took notice. It happened in the other direction too but not as often. Alternatively you might be underestimating how oblivious some (most?) people are of those things.
This is the key. Ask all the developers for a ranked top-3 list of who they would most prefer to go to for help with a programming problem. Put that data together and you know who your best are.
Before the inevitable protest: I believe the ability and willingness to communicate with other developers is a vital skill in this business.
Kind of meaningless statement though. Even if they do, which Im not sure is true in general case because you have to be good yourself to know who’s really good, they are not telling you anyway.
In every organization I've worked in, everyone knew who the productive and non-productive people were.
Just like in school. Everyone knew who the good teachers were, and who the good students were.
I don't fathom how you can work with other people and not be aware of it.
Have you ever found your opinions of things, including people’s relative worth changing over time? Perhaps as you had time to understand the context, or as time revealed the benefit of an action that wasn’t so clear initially?
1 reply →
Frankly, I think you might be confusing "productive" with "smart" or "easy to work with". I've had several past team mates at several companies gush to me about staff eng Bob and while I agreed Bob was a cool guy (or just talked good game) I also knew his last few projects were a failure, it was 100% his fault, and management took notice. It happened in the other direction too but not as often. Alternatively you might be underestimating how oblivious some (most?) people are of those things.
8 replies →
This is the key. Ask all the developers for a ranked top-3 list of who they would most prefer to go to for help with a programming problem. Put that data together and you know who your best are.
Before the inevitable protest: I believe the ability and willingness to communicate with other developers is a vital skill in this business.