Fasttrack Your Personal Development in Software Engineering

For many years I have used a very simple model to explore personal development, both for myself and for my engineers. The foundation is the core belief I have: Great products and quality software are made by people having fun.

The above diagram shows the entire model. The whole idea is to look at what you do on a daily basis and identify the things you truly enjoy and have fun doing and what you think you are really good at. Where these two have an overlap with what your organisation values (i.e. your work generates money or value for the organisation), you have your “ hyperdrive “ area! This is where you can truly excel and shine, and you should actively search out tasks and projects that will allow you to do more of this. If this area becomes too small and the organisation cannot help you get into this type of work, you should find a new job.

Too few organisations recognise the importance of having fun. Fun should be an important part of any development review process and core at exploring new opportunities in the company. If you are a manager, you should stop saying “not all tasks are fun and somebody has to do them”. Truth is that most likely you have somebody who enjoys these tasks more than the person doing it right now, and it’s your job to ensure that you have the right person on the right task; And that you…