Four Lessons from 2023 That Forever Changed My Software Engineering Career

> Don’t say no to leadership when the timeline is not realistic.

And do what instead? Work overtime and through the weekends to deliver? Or lie to them at the beginning and fail to deliver in time? Setting real expectations should help the management and providing your best assessment at the planning stage should not be discouraged.

> It is essential to say no to trivial tasks.

So who ends up doing the trivial task? From the perspective of a manager, there are tasks that needs to be done to achieve an objective. And if an employee continually refuses to do tasks because it's "trivial", maybe their role in the team should be re-examined.

> I used to complain a lot about my team and company. Many times, I have provided the team with actionable advice, believing that they should follow it to benefit the team.

> However, I now know I was wrong. Here’s why: every company has its own unique corporate culture, and each individual has distinct personality traits.

Culture is co-created—it does not exist in a vacuum but is manifested by actual people. If a company is small enough you can meaningfully impact its culture even as an IC.

> Stop Trying to Change the Company or People — Change Yourself and Influence Them

I think this is very practical advice. Such 'leading by example' is oftentimes contagious and can guide people or part of the company to a better direction.

Trying to 'fix' people or processes is much harder. In that case you need to convince or change mindsets by simply telling/writing. People typically don't like to be told what to do if they do not see the benefit.

If you want change... Show, don't tell.

Not even a year later isn't really enough time to say that things were forever changed.

Circle back in 10 and let us know if what you said today held true.