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The Human Dimension of Software Engineering

The Human Dimension of Software Engineering

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An enemy lurking on your tech career path

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Reading Time: 5 minutes

Passion is what drives engineers

People land in the software engineering world for many reasons. Passion for technology is almost always on that list. Technology changes constantly, and coders have to learn new languages, frameworks, libraries, tools, and methodologies, consistently throughout their careers. The energy that pushed engineers to learn throughout their careers is fueled by the same passion they felt when they first chose to join software development.

If you are a coder, you most likely know what I am talking about. Remember that feeling of discovery and wonder for a new language, algorithm, solution, or concept? Remember the sense of enlightenment when something all in a sudden went from obscure to making sense? If you have been in the industry even a few months, you most likely had that magical feeling many times over. ... 

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Hope is not a strategy.

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This entry is part 6 of 8 in the series principles

Reading Time: 4 minutes

In the tech world, it is hard work to craft strategies. We rarely have all the needed information; we don’t know what will happen in the future, and everything changes all the time. Despite the difficulty, we need to decide a course of action. It feels more like an art than a science and takes determination, courage, knowledge, experience, and passion.

It is tempting to say “…and hopefully X will happen…” when working on a strategy. When you hear those words, perk up and recall this principle: Hope is not a strategy. ... 

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Assumption is the Evil Mother of All Mistakes

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This entry is part 3 of 8 in the series principles

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Our lives are full of facts that we have to presume true. If we tried to verify every single truth, we would end up paralyzed, constantly checking and re-checking everything, like a mental patient with a debilitating case of OCD.

Certainty is a spectrum

Certainty is a spectrum, and knowing where a given fact falls on the spectrum is the difference between good assumptions and bad assumptions.

When I walk, I assume that the ground that I am going to step on will not collapse. If I had to verify that fact, I would not be able to walk and I would spend my life sitting on a chair or testing the floor in front of me. ... 

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Only three numbers matter: zero, one, and more-than-one.

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This entry is part 2 of 8 in the series principles

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Imagine the following situation

Three friends are thirsty. They decide to drink some water from a nearby fountain.

The first friend scoops water using his hands. He starts drinking without delays and is done before the others have started. However, it takes him a while, and the process is messy. When he is done he is all wet and his hands are freezing.

The second one goes to buy one single sheet of paper, then he folds it into a paper cup. It takes a while to do it right, but when he is done he fills it with water and drinks. In the end he is dry, his hands are warm, but the cup is soaked and ruined. ... 

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Solid Principles You Can Apply Starting Now

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This entry is part 1 of 8 in the series principles

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Anyone who has worked with me knows that I abide by a few fundamental principles that I often apply to various situations and problems. Several of them have served me well for a long time. They come to mind in situations that are reminiscent of previous experiences. These principles are rarely themselves the ultimate solution to a problem, but they always offer insight into how to find a solution.

I am going to share some of my favorite ones with you.

Coderhood Principles

  1. Only three “numbers” matter: zero, one, and more-than-one.
  2. Assumption is the evil mother of all mistakes 1
  3. Hope is not a strategy.
  4. Every question is a good question.
  5. If something is unclear to you, you are likely in good company.
  6. Trust your instincts, question your fears.
  7. Make decisions based on what you know.
  8. If you make somebody guess, and they guess wrong, you are at least 50% responsible for it. 2
  9. Be good on people and hard on ideas.
  10. Change is inevitable. Make it happen, before it happens to you.
  11. Never compromise on a high hiring bar.

I encourage you to read these principles a few times. Internalize them and try to apply them. Doing so often will allow you to discover their inherent meaning, which will provide guidance in many decisions, actions, and behaviors. ... 

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