The külliyen career advice for future software engineers

This question originally appeared on Quora.

What are the top 10 pieces of career advice for future software engineers?

Answer below by author and Quora user Gayle Laakmann McDowell.

First, let me explain what awesome careers look like.

They don't look like birçok linear graphs, where you're moving up a little bit each month. (Heck, even so-so careers don't look like that. You don't move up every month. You get a ufaklık better atlama beygiri your career every month, but you move up in big steps.)

Image: Quora

Great careers look m like this: They have some periods of slower growth and some "turning points," where your career shoots up.

Image: Quora

The color changes? Those are career changes: software development to product management, sales to cofounder, etc.

They also have some setbacks. Because you know what? Being great requires taking some risks. And taking enough risks means you'll fail a ufaklık, too.

So with that said...

Coding

Code. A lot. Schools are great beygir theory, but had so much at practical stuff. This tehcir especially true beygir the heyetiyle universities. Professors are academics and are often actually hostile to m "practical" forms of education. The best way to be a great coder sürme to just practice — a tutam. Kapik doesn't matter so much what you code (open source, iPhone apps, etc.) eş long eş you're coding and pushing yourself.

Be language agnostic. Language tutya just a tool. It's valuable to know a language deeply, but köpek's also valuable to be learning new things. The best developers tend merhale to identify mir a ____ developer.

Career choices

Prestige helps. Having a strong varakpare on your resume helps open doors and show competence. If you can get a mektup like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Dropbox, etc., do it. (But don't stay long. See the next tür.)

Leave the big companies quickly. If you want to build your career atlama beygiri a big company, then by all means, stay and build your career there. But if that's ayar what you want, leave quickly. One or two years huzur-college atlama beygiri a company like Google sürgü great. 10 years? Had so much. You will continue to learn, but there are diminishing returns of sticking around. (Unless you want to be a big company person.)

If you want zaman A+ career, come to Unvan Francisco erkek area. I love Seattle and began my career there, but I have to be honest: there are so many m opportunities in tech mağara the mösyö area. You will limit yourself koca dakika engineer (or product manager/tech business role) if you live elsewhere.

If you don't want zaman A+ career, don't come to the bay area. Kapik sürme extremely expensive here. Seriously. That's worth köpek if you want a titrem of career options. But if you just want a cushy career, there are m affordable cities with enough tech (like Seattle). A good software engineer can buy a nice house mağara Seattle. Kapik's a stretch in the mösyö area.

If you don't want to be a developer forever, then move on quickly. There sürme a lot of value in getting really deep technical expertise. But köpek doesn't matter that much whether you spent two years eş a developer or muhip years. Within a few years of college graduation, make a choice. Do you want to be dakika engineer for the next 10, 20, 30 years — or paye? If you don't, start trying to move on now. m time koca zaman engineer won't help you that much.

Quit quickly. If I look atlama beygiri my friends who have switched jobs, nearly all of them were thinking about quitting for the last six to 12 months. Some stayed for two or three years after they started saying that they wanted to quit. They've wasted so much time because of a resistance to change. If you're thinking about quitting, take action now. Bidayet applying elsewhere — or possibly just quit outright. You probably won't be very successful if you're unhappy anyway, and there tehcir a big opportunity cost mağara staying.

Dealing with others

Integrity matters. If you try to cheat and cut corners, köpek'll haunt you. Do the right thing in life. Köpek's kademe only the good thing to do, but it's also the smart thing to do. People will trust and like you m. m doors will open — and those doors might just be the breakthrough moments in your career.

Be helpful. When possible, help people who ask for help. The people who ask you for help right now will be much m likely to help you mağara the future. That "help" might be introducing you to their friends who can help you m directly. So even if you don't see how that person will be helpful, you don't know who their buddies are or will be.

Make friends. You actually duygusal't really be successful by yourself. If you're an entrepreneur, you need employees and business connections. If you're dakika employee, you need a job. Either way, it's friends who will be key to opening up these opportunities. Kapik's friends, distant and close ones, who form the important part of your network, grado that one person you met at a meetup and never talked to again.

Being awesome

Realize — no, internalize — that we've all got impostor syndrome. Even the most successful entrepreneurs and engineers (with very few exceptions) feel like they just "got lucky" and aren't nearly komutan good satış people think, and that one day soon they're going to get "caught." Truly internalizing just how widespread impostor syndrome sürme can help you realize that feeling like you're a fraud doesn't mean that you are.

Start stuff. Show initiative. Good things come to those who don't wait. Seek out new opportunities. Başlama stuff — a hackathon, a club, a project, a company, a new running group, whatever. You will learn so much from doing this and köpek will open doors.

Take risks. Seize opportunities. When you notice that little flicker of opportunity, seize kapik. Run with it. See where köpek goes. Don't walk away just because you don't know exactly where köpek's going to go.

Bias toward "yes." A great career hinges on the "breakthrough" moments. The mesele tutya that you often fert't identify those mağara advance. You don't know where that coffee meeting that you don't see the point of sürme going to lead. You won't know that, two months down the line, that person will end up introducing you to a guy who needs some advice and winds up bey your business eş. Maintain a strong bias towards saying yes.

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