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Ask HN: Software Engineers: What factors contributed to your success?

7 points by ameerkat ↗ HN
Hi HN, I am in the process of writing a book and on a smaller scale a small blog post exploring the factors that contribute to a software engineer's success. I'd love to understand more about

* What factors contribute to your success (coding, design, communication, finding your purpose, etc.)

* What factors were hard for you to master or understand

* What areas you're working on now

I've constructed a survey here

https://airtable.com/shry2byax5iisFzwq

and am offering an incentive of 10 USD as an Amazon gift card to anyone who does fill it out, up to the first 80 people. I'm polling my friends and colleagues but I'd love more diverse inputs. I appreciate your responses, the survey may look long but many of the questions are asking for a rating on a scale of 1-5.

You are welcome to leave your free form comments on these topics below as well. I'll do my best to normalize those inputs, though the survey is preferred.

Thanks in advance, Ameer

5 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 29.4 ms ] thread
md_
A decade and a half ago I was at Microsoft when the interns were all invited to BillG's house for their annual picnic.

At the end of the picnic Bill comes out to answer questions. Some eager young intern raises their hand and asks, "Mr. Gates: What qualities are most important to success?"

Bill laughed a little bit and said, "Well, it helps to be smart."

ameerkat
I like this anecdote, it does seem very much like Bill G. I think a lot of people answer this very generically like "be smart" or saying don't focus on career growth focus on writing good software. But operating in the corporate world is filled with many other challenges that refusing to acknowledge or discuss won't make go away. If you are a craftsman and only that, then I can see how this advice applies. Forget the game and focus on building what you like. If you want to make an impact, I want to give something more meaningful to take away. I personally think focusing on the outer wrapping of career or title is a meaningless game, but focusing on doing things that make more meaningful changes in others lives is worthwhile for some.

It seems like it would be smart to learn from others.

md_
Sure. I wasn't knocking your effort--I just always think of this comment when people talk about "what it takes to be successful."

The reality is just that it's complicated and multifaceted.

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robarker
Done. looking forward to the results, best luck to you.