Which type of developer are you?
Exploring two types of developers
The game begins:
You start playing. You have a mission. You start moving towards your goal. You see a small treasure chest on the side. Do you go and look into it? You know that you could find a rare sword that could help you later on, but you also know that it could be empty and a complete waste of time.
Let’s rewrite that for a developer. You begin an assignment. You start coding. You hear about a new technology that could potentially help you with your assignment. Do you stop your assignment to go learn about it?
You know that it could help you but you also know that it could be a complete waste of time.
There are two types of developers:
1. Main quest — focuses on the assignment and tries to stay on track as much as possible.
2. Side quest — starts an assignment and learns about things that are outside of the scope of the assignment.
Which is better?
There are pros and cons for each approach. Let’s take a look at an example.
You are given an assignment to add a feature to a service you are not familiar with. You could implement it quickly and be done with it. OR you could delve deeper into the new service and learn more about it. This will take you more time but would assist you in future tasks involving the service. Let’s say the main quest developer can finish this task in one day. The side quest developer might take three days to finish the same task. In this case, the main quest developer can get three times as many tasks completed as the side quest developer.
Obviously being a main quest developer is better, right?
Let’s take a look at another task. This time the assignment is to add another, more complex feature to the new service. The main quest developer didn’t dig deep when he did the previous task, so now he has to learn all about the new service. It will take him three days to learn and implement the new feature. The side quest developer already learned about the new service when he worked on the previous task. He can finish this task in one day because he gained enough information to know exactly what should be done.
Obviously being a side quest developer is better, right? (See what i did there?) Both approaches work, depending on the context.
Expanding your tool box
It’s important to understand which type of assignment you have. Sometimes, you will have a strict deadline and will have to put your main quest hat on. Other times, you will have more time to investigate and learn new technologies in order to get the job done.
Having both abilities is great. Knowing when to use which ability is even better.
If you always follow the path of the main quest you will miss out on lots of interesting new things. Sometimes tasks will take more time since you don’t possess the knowledge from past assignments. On the other hand, if you always get diverted to side quests you will take a long time to complete your tasks and might miss out on important deadlines and providing value to your team. Knowing when to put on which hat is key to pushing forward and capitalizing on your skills.
What does this have to do with your career path?
It’s important to understand that each approach will have an impact on your career path. The main quest developer will have an easier time transitioning to a team lead position since the main concern of the team lead is the same: to get the job done. The side quest developer will have an easier time shifting into a tech lead role, since tech leads tend to focus on difficult tech questions that need a deeper understanding of technologies and a wider range of technical solutions.
Quiz time!
- Which type of developer are you?
- Is this by design or did this just happen?
- Did the work place determine your type or did you?
- Which type do you want to be?
Final thoughts
If you are not sure which one you are, try and understand which one you find more appealing. There is no right or wrong answer. You can be a main quest developer, be systematic, and give a lot of straightforward value to your team by being able to complete many tasks quickly. OR you can be a side quest developer, curious about new technologies and give a lot of tech value to your team. It’s important to have both abilities in your bag of tricks, and also know when to use which one. Being able to toggle between these two types will help you become a more rounded developer and set you up for long-term success.
