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Sunday, February 17, 2013

What does it take to be a good software professional?


Of the very few Rockstar level technical people I have encountered in the past, there was this one quality all of them possesed-->Everyone approached them for technical advice.

They always answered to technical questions with supreme confidence and they had a consistent track record of being 100% correct. On top of their technical expertise they also had amazing people skills.


In my experience (of watching others) these are the qualities necessary for a software developer to reach the very top of the technical part of the corporate ladder
  1. A thorough understanding of the fundamentals (a computer science degree really helps)
  2. Constant reading up on the latest and best selling technology books.(Go to amazon.com and sort by popularity)
  3. Constantly brushing up on stuff that you have studied in the past (see Spacing effect)
  4. A thorugh understanding of the dominant design patterns.
  5. Being involved in the developer community (contribute on stackoverflow, go to developer meetups etc)
  6. A very high EQ (yes EQ and not IQ. IQ will only take you upto a Jr developer stage)
  7. Ability to grasp the business needs very quickly.
  8. Impecable domain knowledge (Understanding the business)
It usually takes atleast 13 years of experience to attain this rock star level.

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