I'm surprised to not hear an engineer's memory as an important correlator to skill. I find that working memory especially (or the lack thereof) really can hinder my performance when dealing with a complex problem. Sometimes I think it is THE defining factor!
What Makes a Great Software Engineer? [pdf]
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Re: What Makes a Great Software Engineer? [pdf]
#12"Great" is in the eye of the beholder - to a large extent. An engineer that is great in a startup ("hacker", "moves fast and breaks things") may be pretty bad in a well-established product that just needs maintenance. And the opposite is also true - a very thoughtful engineer that takes time to create thoughtful, simple & extensible designs may just move too slow when the idea was bad to begin with, and just needed t…
Should one be a generalist or an specialist in the current time frame?
Re: What Makes a Great Software Engineer? [pdf]
#13I don't get the "9 to 5 wouldn't make you a great engineer" about not being passionate, some people are passionate but have other life obligations like kids or other activities.
Being personable: "Can I have a beer with this guy?" is the worse in my opinion. I care about your professional skills and if you're communicating well, but you definitely don't have to be a beer buddy, we might have 15 years difference, a very different background and share very few topics in common over a beer (assuming you even drink beer) but you could still be a great engineer to work with.
Also you don't have to be a guy! The authors recognize that they only interview 5% women in the end...
So overall some good advice, but it has a huge sampling bias. therefore the definition of a "great software engineer" is only valid in certain circumstances. For instance the authors recognize creativity is important, but one could argue some of the most creative engineers that can be found are the people who do another, very creative activity on the side (arts etc). These people would tend to be "9 to 5" because their "6 to 8" are already booked, so even if they appear less "passionate" they can be a huge asset to the team.
Re: What Makes a Great Software Engineer? [pdf]
#14I'm surprised to not hear an engineer's memory as an important correlator to skill. I find that working memory especially (or the lack thereof) really can hinder my performance when dealing with a complex problem. Sometimes I think it is THE defining factor!
I've been able to mitigate pretty much all the issues I've had with remembering details about complex problems by using effective note-taking and diagramming.
Re: What Makes a Great Software Engineer? [pdf]
#15I'm surprised to not hear an engineer's memory as an important correlator to skill. I find that working memory especially (or the lack thereof) really can hinder my performance when dealing with a complex problem. Sometimes I think it is THE defining factor!
Although this could certainly be true, I would argue that one's critical thinking ability, in general, outweighs ones memory especially when it comes to solving new problems.
Re: What Makes a Great Software Engineer? [pdf]
#16The ability to take a diverse sample from their interviewee pool and not just take the top 10 perfect looking resumes from recruiters for people they choose to spend time interviewing.
So many diamond-in-the-rough developers out there that would make good team members, but simply lack prestigious resumes or failed to put skill points in "Job Search" or attribute points in Charisma.
Re: What Makes a Great Software Engineer? [pdf]
#17I'm surprised to not hear an engineer's memory as an important correlator to skill. I find that working memory especially (or the lack thereof) really can hinder my performance when dealing with a complex problem. Sometimes I think it is THE defining factor!
Good thing one of the first principles you learn is to break complex problems into smaller chunks, and then they become manageable pieces you are on your way to solving.
Beyond a basic ability to think logically and enjoying doing so, programming is 99% perspiration aka patience.
Re: What Makes a Great Software Engineer? [pdf]
#18I'm surprised to not hear an engineer's memory as an important correlator to skill. I find that working memory especially (or the lack thereof) really can hinder my performance when dealing with a complex problem. Sometimes I think it is THE defining factor!
Notetaking makes working memory much less of a issue. I recommend you find a way that works for you, if you're interested in career longevity as an engineer. Personally I alternate between todo lists for completion and coverage, and dialectics of theory and test for design and troubleshooting.
Re: What Makes a Great Software Engineer? [pdf]
#19A good engineer solves problems in the most feasible and working way possible. If its fast, cheap and usable then its fine.
A good software engineer solves problems by generating software. Its amazing the amount of self called software engineers that are unable to design from start to end a simple software.
So, a good software engineer is mainly a PROGRAMMER.
Re: What Makes a Great Software Engineer? [pdf]
#20I'm surprised to not hear an engineer's memory as an important correlator to skill. I find that working memory especially (or the lack thereof) really can hinder my performance when dealing with a complex problem. Sometimes I think it is THE defining factor!
Memory? It depends, knowing technical knowledge by memory is useless since we could use google.
However, if memory means EXPERIENCE then, its a different matter. A seasoned engineer costs a lot more for this reason.