Mentorship, learn and grow

Increasing team communication and productivity

“silhouette of people” by Tobias Mrzyk on Unsplash

As a developer, the day by day on how my career is always a challenge. I face many tech problems, constraints to give solutions, designs architect. With time passing you realize that your hard skills get better and better, because you are focus on one kind of language that you feel comfortable. Your badge of acknowledgement keep growing and growing. Then you are reaching the point that you will be labeled as Senior Developer our even Team Leader.

With great power comes great responsibilities

On those moments you realize that it’s not only hard skills your demand but soft skills too and team leadership.

So how do I face this?

Initial point was having good conversations with other developers that have been in that position and learn from them. Put the right question like:

• Should I be cold as f!%”&k or cool leader?

With time I’ve realized that soft skills are equal or even more important to work on it. Your team should be defended 100%, you should be a firewall for them and when a problem is identified on your team, stop everything and talk about it, don’t leave it grow.

Other thing that I learned was:

• S!#*t, I have this challenge and nobody in my team is capable of? What should I do? Ask RH to hire senior?

And them you realize that you are putting the question wrong:

• Why my team is not capable of? I should challenge them, mentor those junior’s to grow and be great senior developers.

“people sitting on chairs” by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash

So, in my path that I’m walking now with these new team we implemented sessions that we called “Mentoring, learn and grow”. With that we bring all kind of stuff to the table like: business process, technologies, concepts, frameworks, design, pains between designers and developers, communication etc…

This kind of acts brings culture to our organization, every person feels like I’m important and my work and contribution can lead others, can make the diference and bring more and more motivation, so business will not be so mechanical and we will not listen the word “them or they decided”, and will be “we decide”.

Sharing knowledgement, ask why and how and promote communication on a team is so important as you work on your hard skills. So this sessions now twice a week are not presentations but a team united on the table with designers, developers and business to point what constraints everyone feel and we should work on it. We are only in the beginning and a long path we have to walk but that initial feeling that “my team is not capable of” is now turned into a “we have the power, we only need to share it and grow together”.

For me as a labeled Senior Developer is so cool, because soft skills are growing and growing and is pleasant sewing that the other developers, designers and business will challenge me, and feel that one person can do the change if we bring the team together.

So at the end, if you have the responsibility on a team don’t look to them as juniors or code monkeys or even no trust references, make them feel that they are essential, promote growing sessions, engage challenges to them and keep them safe, make them feel they are not alone on those day by day requests, help them pointing the right directions or even share those experiences that you as a senior have walked in the past.

Let’s grow and share. Cheers!

And you can change it, you can influence it.