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Ask HN: Prove Impact by Being Boring?

5 points by bread_butter ↗ HN
I am a thoughtful engineer. I measure twice before cutting once. I generally code with lesser bugs because I think through my edge cases. I do boring engineering work. I have fellow engineers who are fast, but messy. They set things on fire and they put out that fire. They create noise, and yet the company labels(and rewards) them "impactful". I spend non-trivial amount of time to review their code and provide feedback but I don't seem to get that "impact" tag. People say that being thoughtful and doing boring work is good, but the incentives do not align. How would I go about marketing myself that I am as impactful, if not better, as they are?

6 comments

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fagnerbrack
Welcome to the industry: https://fagnerbrack.com/youre-not-praised-for-the-bugs-you-d...

Honestly I don't think there's a solution other than pointing out when the bugs DONT happen, which is very hard unless you can produce an alternative universe to compare to ppl who don't understand software

bread_butter
I feel it all comes down to communicating your strengths to your bosses, assuming they are reasonable engineers themselves. I am hoping to learn such a trick from someone who might have done that or partially attempted doing it and learnt something.
rachelbythebay
Nobody's ever cared about the stuff I made never happen by being good ahead of time. They've only ever really cared about the fixes to stuff that blew up. It helped that whatever blew up wasn't mine, I guess, but not that much.

Really, a lot of places just put up with your personal desires for excellence as long as you keep saving their bacon. Stop saving their bacon or throw the "balance" off from their point of view, and they won't appreciate you any more.

Sorry, but management tends to suck in this regard. If you find someplace that's different, hang onto it!

kstenerud
You need to learn how to play the politics game. It happens everywhere, in every industry and situation, and there's no escaping it. Ignoring it just ensures that you always lose.
obrienmatei567
YMMV with this advice. Sometimes you have the opportunity to under promise and then over deliver.

A delightful surprise such as something they didn't expect to get done or by a certain date can make your work seem more impactful to clients and management.

However, this is very situational and you risk falling into a trap where they begin expecting too much from you if you purposely do this for everything you do.

pestatije
This happens at all levels: getting a girlfriend, delivering broadband, running for president,... Flashy always trumps boring.