How many software developers does it take to code something?
Sounds like a bad joke doesn’t it? Well, in many ways it IS a very bad JOKE!

Listen… people… talking about working IS NOT WORKING! If you are a software developer and you spend more than 30 minutes a day in someone else cubical or office talking about how we “should” code things. You are not working… period. You should be reprimanded for wasting company time. Unless you are a project lead, or a on the project management team, you should be putting your head down and generating quality code for people to use and not talking about coding with your peers.

Just because you think you should be in a leadership position doesn’t mean that you get to act like one and “practice” leadership on your less knowledgeable peers.

If you were truly fit to be a lead then they would have already put you in that position. Leadership is not about how quickly you can drop acronyms, how much you can obfuscate your code, or if you are using the latest “coolest” MVC.

Here is a little hint… if you are a developer learning a new technology and you have a peer sitting in your cube telling you what to type and how to code then he/she is not really teaching you. They are trying to make you dependent upon them to do your work. You need to ask them very specific questions about where you need help and the, *** ask them to leave while you try their suggestions and  your own theories***.

You will learn more by trial and error on your own than under duress from a more peer. Plus, you’re better off without their griping and erudite behavior.

Last point… then I will end my rant. Management people (if you are reading this) you need to recognize this behavior and deal with it immediately. You are allowing two full time high wage earners to waste company time. Case in point, would you pay two doctors to sit in a cube and talk about diagnosing your problem? I would hope note.

If you allow this type of behavior you must recognize that you are allowing to Full Time Employees to work on one problem. You could and should be getting twice the production that you are currently getting. If they feel the developers need to talk about how things “should” be done grab the lead developer and project management and make them explain what they plan to do in one short meeting.

Be aware: Developers WILL try and steer a project left or right so that they can use the latest buzz word technologies and add them to their resume. The problem is that in most cases this does NOT add any value to the business or the application just their egos.

As a developer, I often take for granted the basic computer skills. Even as
I write this entry I am using short cut keys for editing and moving about
the text content. I am using a text editor rather than a word processor, and
I know how to fix any formatting errors that might arise from posting.

So as a self introspective experiment I am going to try and list different
skills that I use every day to help with my experience with computers.

1. Operating System short-cut keys – window key, shift-key combinations,
function keys
2. Mouse functions – right click options and double-clicking for different
situations
3. Software specific short-cut keys – calling the search/find through
keyboard keys, maximizing and minimizing windows, moving from application to
application without the mouse

It is an interesting exercise to self-examine ones computer skills however I
would encourage everyone to try this exercise. If there is something that I
have listed that you are not familiar with. Visit us again later as I will
write articles on these skills in the future. If you have others that you
use that you would like to share please feel free to post a comment and let
us know.