The rambling story of how I became a developer - part 1

Just recently I've had the privilege of advising a few amateur developers on how to step into the world of professional development. I find this a difficult question but since working with and helping encourage those new to this world is very important and something I hope to be doing a lot more of in the near future I thought it best to get some thoughts in order.

How did I get there?

First things first - I can't claim to be any kind of career expert. My own tale has been a combination of providence and hard work, not particularly shrewd choices as I've progressed - at least not deliberately.

My first IT job was a summer spent as a business analyst, working through a huge data manipulation job and providing the technical expertise to the project manager. This wasn't why I was hired - I was supposed to be doing some kind of data entry as a holiday job - but by a series of coincidences I ended up talking to everyone who the project affected and accidentally doing some in-depth user analysis which led me to ask lots of questions about the best way to move forward. In my first job I learned the importance of the end users.

Next up, I spent a year in user support on a help desk, helping look after a campus full of computers. Again, lots of opportunities to talk to the end users and hear their difficulties and frustrations. This sort of experience is really important for someone who wants to be a good developer. Being able to create great code is important, but if you don't understand the people who will be using your product you will only ever be able to create to the specifications provided by others and that will limit your ability to be effective and put a ceiling on your career.

The help desk also gave me my first proper chance to effect change on my working environment. We had many processes which needed to be more efficient and I was fortunate that the people around me (and particularly my manager) were open to experiment and change. This is understood with the benefit of hindsight and experience - at the time I just had an idea, had a bit of a chat with my manager and gave it a go. Looking back I'm honestly surprised they gave me as much freedom as they did. Being able to critically analyse and successfully question the status quo is an important skill for anyone working in a team and especially in the rapidly-changing world of development.

The first summary

So far I think the key points (other than the rather obvious "make the most of your opportunities") are:

• get involved with the end users
• question the world around you

It's never too early in your career to ask "is this the right thing to do?" - it will probably be the most important question you learn. Of course, the other vital part of this skill is being able to ask without annoying and alienating your colleagues. While sometimes it is important to challenge authority or speak truth to power, or whatever the phrase is at the moment it is rarely a good idea to directly butt heads with people higher up the food chain. In a good working environment, questions and discussions should be encouraged (if you're finding you can't ever ask "why" then you're working in the wrong place) but you need to know how to approach such a conversation and when to back out.

Basically, soft skills matter.

More at some point.