Fatal Exception: Hard Lessons in Soft Skills for Software Developers

Do you find yourself your planning sessions get stuck in unending philosophical discussions? Everybody wants to do things the "right way" but they all disagree on what is right. At some point you have to bring the discussion to a close and start producing value. In this episode we talk about basing your decisions off of principles rather than philosophy.

Getting fired feels like the end of the world. It breaks fear and uncertainty, It makes you doubt your ability. Fortunately, it is not as bad as it feels. Phillip and Bill share their own experiences of being fired, how they dealt with it and strategies for dealing with your own situation.

Getting fired feels like the end of the world. It breaks fear and uncertainty, It makes you doubt your ability. Fortunately, it is not as bad as it feels. Phillip and Bill share their own experiences of being fired, how they dealt with it and strategies for dealing with your own situation.

I had a friend once tell me "You can be right but if you are wrong in how you are right you are still wrong." There are lots of ways of saying no. Most developers get this wrong. Pushback is an important soft-skill all developers should learn.

Interviewing is a hugely important skill but since we do it so infrequently we are terrible at it. Here are a few tips on how to interview for software development roles.

What does creativity look like, why is it important, and how do you get it?

If you boss could ask one thing of you it would be to "Take ownership". There is too much to do and too many unknowns for him make all the decisions. Your boss needs somebody who is able to think ahead, notice problems, and fill in the gaps. Most people are order takers. They sit and wait for instruction. Stand out and grow your career by acting "as if" the outcome is reliant on you...because it is.

Good team alignment allows groups of developers to be more than the sum of their individual parts. Unfortunately, there are some common behaviors from developers that prevent this alignment. In this episode we talk about seven of these behaviors. CowboyHeroMartyrMercenaryCavemanContrarianPhilosopher

Software developers like details but it also means we can sometimes have a hard time making decisions. The process of decision making can be hard for us but there is hope.

There is a companion to intelligence called hard work. If you are going to win at your software development career you have to put in the reps. This may seem like common sense but if you are naturally very intelligent you may find many things come easy to you. Unfortunately, this may have also inadvertently taught you to quit when the task gets hard. There is no substitute for focused intensity over time. If you wonder why you are not being promoted, if you find yourself asking why...

Software developers tend to be very smart, analytical individuals. Many times they may have the highest IQ in the room. However, despite their intelligence they have a hard time selling their ideas. In this episode we talk about some strategies on how they might do this better. Here is the spoiler: Ideas don't sell themselves. We don't live in a meritocracy. You may need to "play politics". If you regularly wonder why others in the organization are listening to you it may be time to cha...

In this episode we discuss common things software developers do to sabotage their careers. Many developers are exceptionally talented but slow their career growth because of unintentional but counterproductive patterns of behavior. We are Bill Edmondson and Phillip Turpin. We have each experienced some success in the field but only because of all our failures along the way. In this podcast we share with you the things we have learned through these, often, very hard lessons. This is ...

The hardest part of achieving a successful software career is only partially related to software development skills. There is so much more. Most developers could experience exceptional career growth, but they are held back by one or two non-technical problems. Often, they just need somebody to simply point these out before finding real, professional success. They just need a mentor. We are Bill Edmondson and Phillip Turpin. We have each experienced some success in the field b...