The Ultimate Guide to Professional Development for Engineers

Professional
Development Guides
How to Be
a Better
ENgineer
from

We know you want to
BE AWESOME
at your job!

So, we picked the brains
of a team of engineering
experts to find out how
they've gotten so good.
Yusuf Simonson
VP of Engineering at
The Muse
Vanessa Hurst
Technical Founder &
CEO of CodeMontage
Zain Memon
CTO of Braid
Ana Enders
Senior Front-End
Engineer at The Muse

And compiled it all into the
ULTIMATE GUIDE TO
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
FOR ENGINEERS.

Are you ready for it?
it'll be a HUGE help to your career.
(And only take a little time to flip through.)
Whether you’re just getting started
or you’re ready to move to the top,

First, we’ll talk about the skills you need.
And then we’ll give you the resources
to make it happen.
Let's get started.

So what skills does one
need to develop to be
a superstar engineer?

Well, there are
the obvious ones.

You should know as many
hard tech skills
as possible—and continue
learning them.

If you're interested in becoming a
developer (front-end or back-end),
you might spend years learning the
fundamentals, but you will never
stop having to learn new
technologies. All developers are
expected to keep up with the latest
in the tech world.

You should also have
plenty of practice
in the art of
problem solving.

Probably the most useful skill I've learned has been to
debug. As a front-end developer (as opposed to a seasoned
programmer), I've faced many hurdles with back-end
technologies. Instead of despairing or pestering my fellow
engineers, I take the time to look things up or dig around,
and (often) I will figure it out. It can be painful and time-
consuming, but when you solve a problem on your
own, it's the most empowering and satisfying feeling.

But there are
other skills that
people tend to
overlook.

It’s important to be able to
communicate effectively
in the engineering world.

You must be able to:
Give feedback and
instructions to others
on your team
Explain your vision
or your work to
non-technical team
members

Learning when to provide detail and
when to paint a general picture has
been crucial for me. I'm an engineer by
training, so I think in extreme detail,
but sometimes too many specifics can
hamper an otherwise strong message.
You don't have to say everything you
know every time you speak.

You also must be able to
C O L L A B O R A T E
with all sorts of people.

After all, you don’t build
things in a vacuum—
you build them for and
with other people!

The most useful skill I've learned is an
appreciation for working with the
non-technical staff members at a
company. They're often the ones who
know the problems that the company
faces first-hand, and they're also the ones
most appreciative when you fix those
problems.

Later on in your career,
having good
MANAGEMENT skills
can really help you out.

There’s a good chance
you’ll be put in charge
of a team of engineers,
and you’ll need to be able
to keep your people as
organized as your code.

The most useful skills for me have been
softer skills, especially with respect to
management and leadership. I'm not a
natural manager, so this has been really
useful for my professional
development.

Similarly, good
PUBLIC SPEAKING
abilities become more
important as your
career moves forward.

By presenting your
work to others, you
can get your name
out and become a
thought leader
in your field.

I've spoken at several conferences,
which helps me articulate what
I believe in and improve how I
engage other people in what
I'm building.

But when it comes
down to it, the most
important thing you
can do is continue
growing your
TECHNICAL
ABILITIES.

For software development, I think learning
functional programming is a great way to
improve. Even if you don't end up using it
professionally, it gives you a new
perspective. And as an interviewer, seeing
functional programming experience in a
resume is a big indicator that the person is
passionate about his or her craft.

Now that we're on the
same page about what skills
you need, let's talk about
how to get there.

We asked our experts what resources
have been helpful along the way,
and pulled together an
official RESOURCE GUIDE
for your engineering development.

For organizational setup,
GitHub and Valve are both very
inspirational companies.

I'm inspired by Grace Hopper Celebration for
Women in Computing and local conferences
focused on specific technologies (mostly
PostgreSQL and Ruby for me). I also
recently organized a conference,
WriteSpeakCode, and learned a lot from the
experience and the workshop content.

CLASSES TO TAKE
There are a billion tutorials online. It's probably
best to consult developers you respect for
guidance on what they find to be the most
helpful. I'm a big fan of doing things yourself, so
if you're motivated, you should not require
expensive workshops or classes.

Practice on real projects! Talk to
people with real technical needs
instead of making up a project.
Software engineering is not just
about building, it's about solving
people's problems.

Now—it's time to go
out into the world
and get better at
rocking your career!
(We know you can do it.)

And, if you want a little more help along the way?
Keep up with for the advice
you need to build the career you've
always dreamed of.
Get Career
Advice
Browse
Engineering
Jobs
Sign Up for
Classes
All photos courtesy of Shutterstock.
Or follow us on:

The Ultimate Guide to Professional Development for Engineers

Recomendados

Recomendados

Más contenido relacionado

Destacado

Destacado (10)

Último

Último (20)

The Ultimate Guide to Professional Development for Engineers