Top 3 reasons why working as a developer is rewarding
Are you thinking of shifting your career to a developer — Here are the top 3 reasons
As the tech boom has taken off in the last two decades, more and more college grads and people in their early to mid- careers dream about pursuing one of the coolest jobs in the tech world — Being a “Developer”. And there are many successful developers who neither went to college to learn coding nor had a background in technology or coding.
At Leonardo, a product-first organization that creates technology for global hotel brands, we have had many successful developers who started coding as a passion and grew to become one of the most successful engineers in the organization. Having worked with several people who shifted their career to becoming a developer over the years I tried to feed my inquisitive brain about what attracted them towards Technology and then what made them continue to grow as developers. These are the top three reasons why fellow developers and engineers chose this role, and how they continued to thrive at here at Leonardo and beyond.
1. Opportunity to work on the cool and coolest technology
2. Formal Mentorship
3. Career Path Exploration
1. Opportunity to work on the cool and coolest technology
Sounds pretty obvious: nobody wants to be in maintenance mode, working on legacy systems and platforms that run on a 15-year-old PHP script. However, the reality is that lots of companies have legacy systems that pay the bills, and working only on the new, ground-breaking technologies might not always be possible or profitable. The key is to find a good balance between the two.
We are currently in a pretty sweet spot at Leonardo. Our current platform is functional to the needs of our existing customers. However, we decided to give our customers a better experience and a platform that is more reliable and sustainable. That motivated us to give our legacy systems a new spin using the cool and coolest technologies. We are rewriting our current platform on a new technology stack that uses Spring Framework, Docker, Kubernetes, GraphQL, AWS (just to name a few) in order to achieve better scalability and flexibility.
Tech companies like Leonardo create an environment and working culture that entices bright minds to enjoy working and feel continuously motivated to step into their workplace every morning.
It’s the opportunity to work on stuff that is exciting and work with people who are even more interesting that makes developers thrive in organizations that are built on technology.
2. Formal Mentorship
Developers who have spent a good span of their career in product and technology organizations would agree that having role models who you look up to,and with whom you can have informative discussions, is an enticing aspect of being a developer. Finding a good mentor is vital for everybody, no matter the phase of their career. It is also important for mentors to find suitable mentees who will prosper from the experience and look for potential opportunities to put learning into action. However, not many careers offer a formal mentorship process.
One of the notable merits of being a developer or working for a technology organization is that employees get an opportunity to participate in a formal mentorship process.
Developers can choose as mentors the people who they can learn from and enjoy working with. The mentors naturally become sponsors and recommend their mentees for potential roles in the organization.
3. Career Path Exploration
As much as it sounds philosophical, it is important to understand what your career path looks like, regardless of the career you are in. And the organization you work for has to give you the opportunity to reach that point and beyond. It’s hard to know where you want to be in 5–10 years at the beginning of your career. As a software developer, do you want to follow the technical path through different levels of seniority and move on to architecture? Or are you considering the managerial path afterwards?
I have the luxury of working for an organization where growth and career progression play a very vital role in keeping our employees engaged and motivated. There’s no way to really know what you like unless you try it. It’s pretty amazing to see what has happened in this area at Leonardo over the years I have been with the organization. And I’m not talking only about the developers, but throughout all levels and departments. Growth is the integral part of our culture. Rebellious individuals mature to leaders that the next “generation” can learn from.
I have had the pleasure of handing out promotions to a few of my junior developers. I have seen senior developers taking on architecture roles, and our chief architect is now our CTO. Setting new, high goals by promoting within and assuming new roles and responsibilities is always a first consideration here at Leonardo.
I truly believe it’s a win-win situation. The challenge, the satisfaction, and the sense of achievement of internal promotions are very fulfilling for individuals. At the same time, the same people feel a new boost of energy, take ownership of projects, and go over and beyond to help the organization succeed.
Organization and department objectives are essential for every company’s success. It might not always be possible to accommodate every goal on a career path immediately. A great example is one of my colleagues who recently discovered his passion in product management after being a developer for three years. He is one of the important members of the engineering department, so the transition from Engineering to Product was very gradual such that it will not deter the objectives of the department and organization. But the key point here is being open to change and creating an environment for individuals to test their passion.
I can’t stress the importance of a clear career path more, and also having possibilities for exploration.
Listen to people reporting to you. If they don’t know their career path, create opportunity for them to explore. If they know the next step, create environment to get there. I feel it was very important for me as a developer and it’s a key responsibility as a development manager.
I’m really excited to work with everyone on my team to help them achieve their goals. I’m looking forward to writing another post on the progress in that area!
