Friday, May 13, 2011

What makes a good software engineer

I found an article here describing the qualities of a good software engineer. Several of the points are similar to ones we heard in class. Some of the points that resonated with me:

Having a "right way" of doing things, and don't let it slip. Good quality, maintainable code is a result of this, and compromising just because you're short on time will likely end up bad

Be willing to suffer a bit trying to figure things out yourself before going for help. I think the class took this a step further with the whole "chain of command" idea, where you rely on yourself, then a little research, then your peers, then whoever's above you.

Never stop learning. This one kind of applies to all walks of life, but especially with a software engineer. There's always a new language, some new paradigm, a design pattern that makes things easier, more maintainable, or more understandable. We live in a fast-changing field, and it pays to keep up and keep ahead

Share that knowledge. A strong team that you had a hand in making is going to have more value than you alone having that knowledge. Keeping what you know too secret within your team just opens the way to over-competitiveness and backstabbing, neither of which is going to help the team as a whole

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