How To Behave At a Software Company?

dawilcox writes "I'm a recent grad and am going to begin work at a software company. I want to make a good impression on my boss and coworkers. I know that performance is usually tracked, but there are also innate personality traits of good software developers that bosses just want to have around. What are those personality traits? What should I be trying to do in order to make a good impression on the people at my work?" (Appropriate side question: What behavior traits would you like your co-workers to exhibit?)

Comments

Good hygiene, don't be a know it all.

[Anonymous Coward]

Good hygiene and refraining from acting like a know-it-all are my two best pieces of advice. Nerd types are often (myself included) poor at those two things.

Re:Good hygiene, don't be a know it all.

[Anonymous Coward]

and i would like to add - don't make weird noises. if you do, keep them to a minimum. don't clear your throat every 30 seconds. don't clip your fingernails at your desk. little things like this go a long way.

Re:Good hygiene, don't be a know it all.

[Peach Rings]

It doesn't do you any good if you brush with delicious candy. And putting candy in a tube is the only way you can make a product of ground up sand and chemicals taste delicious.

Re:Good hygiene, don't be a know it all.

[jetole]

Buy a book on corporate ethics. Read it twice and abide. Also buy a few Dilbert books and read them twice as many times as the corporate ethics books. If your not sure what decision to make in a situation, side with what the Dilbert books suggest over the corporate ethics books.

Re:Good hygiene, don't be a know it all.

[jetole]

See? You're already half way there.

Re:Good hygiene, don't be a know it all.

[ickpoo]

Failing gracefully is very important. Typical software projects are complicated - you will be assigned too much work, assigned work that has such poor requirements that you wonder who was gathering them, have co-workers that fail to deliver their parts of the system in a timely manner (might not be their fault either), and be completely surprised when new requirements appear as if from nowhere. Make sure you keep good notes (lessons the surprises), keep your boss informed of what you are doing and any difficulties or successes you are having (so he knows if you are overloaded, if there is any assistance you can be given, or if you need more work from someone else). Keeping the boss informed is important even when you are senior as you tend to get more complicated work that requires more interaction with other people.

So, simply, communication.

Re:Good hygiene, don't be a know it all.

[Another, completely]

For those that don't know, "acting like a know-it-all" is just something that less knowledgeable people like to say about us more knowledgeable people, as if they are taking some moral high ground by being less knowledgeable.

Maybe that also happens, but it's not just knowing more, it's presentation. It's about not treating those who don't know some little detail like they are not worth your time to talk with. The common term for knowledgeable people with manners and communication skills is "expert."

More often, the know-it-all new kids who really annoy people are those who have read the manual, but don't know the reality. Typical exchange:

• "Why did [the last guy in my job] spend all that time converting the formats, instead of just going to configuration file X and switching the mode? This whole configuration is like a decade old. No wonder you needed to get somebody new in to handle it."
• "The customer has version 3.2 of the software, and that feature wasn't added until version 4.0"
• "What a waste of my time. Just get the customer to upgrade."

And they do this with a tone that suggests it's someone else's fault for not having the customer environment constantly updated to the latest release of everything, rather than their problem for not dealing with the actual situation in front of them. If you don't know why customer environments don't get upgraded as soon as the new release comes out, then ask a colleague over coffee.

Finally, the worst know-it-all is the one who always "could have told you that would happen," but didn't. After something breaks, this person pipes up with all the reasons he knew it was going to fail, but never bothered to mention until his vast insight was obsolete. When something has broken, stick to insights that will help fix it, and avoid criticizing all the idiots who failed to spot the signs until (a) it's fixed, and (b) you are prepared to explain why you didn't point these signs out to people before it broke.

Re:Good hygiene, don't be a know it all.

[laughingcoyote]

and i would like to add - don't make weird noises. if you do, keep them to a minimum. don't clear your throat every 30 seconds. don't clip your fingernails at your desk. little things like this go a long way.

I can't agree with this enough. I have a coworker who comes over to ask me for help periodically, and while over there, is constantly clicking a goddamn pen. I mean constantly, from the time he walks over to the time he leaves. The end result of this is that I give him very quick, superficial advice, so that he, and the pen, will go away.

And for God's sake, "Whistle while you work" may make Disney money, but it won't make you any. It carries a lot farther than you'd think, and I'm not interested in hearing just how tone deaf you are. We have several people who do that at my job, and it drives most of us nuts. You wouldn't bring in a flute and play it at your desk. Why would you try to do a poor imitation of it?

Re:Good hygiene, don't be a know it all.

[Yvanhoe]

Knowing a lot is very different from being a jackass, which is what is implied in the GP's answer.

That's actually a very good way to spot knowledgeable people. When you discuss something they don't know very well, they will ask you a lot of questions and not fear looking ignorant. You can bet that these types of profile know a lot more than others.

Re:Good hygiene, don't be a know it all.

[shiftless]

The end result of this is that I give him very quick, superficial advice, so that he, and the pen, will go away.

A better idea would be to tell him to quit clicking the goddamn pen.

Re:Good hygiene, don't be a know it all.

[shiftless]

For those that don't know, "acting like a know-it-all" is just something that less knowledgeable people like to say about us more knowledgeable people, as if they are taking some moral high ground by being less knowledgeable.

No, they say that to people with poor social skills who act like know-it-alls. Trust me, if you act respectable nobody will call you a know-it-all.

That being said, when you are first starting out, and really anytime you are talking to someone higher in your chain of command, Just point out what you know and let others make the wrong decision. Don't ever clean up after someone else when you already told them what was the right way to do something, let people deal with their own messes.

Spoken like someone with poor social skills. The correct way to approach this is to help people clean up their messes, just as long as they are willing to watch and listen open-mindedly as you patiently explain where they went wrong. That's how you build rapport with your colleagues and become respected. When people respect you, then they will listen to your advice. When you're the asshole who just sits quietly in the corner of the room with his "I told you so" smirk every time disaster strikes, never offering to help, then you're just an anti-social dweeb and of course nobody will listen to you.

Re:Good hygiene, don't be a know it all.

[Tack]

+1. I've noticed that the people I respect the most are those who will honestly say "I don't know" when they actually don't. Generally the more intelligent and rational people will start dropping qualifiers left and right when talking about something they're not deeply familiar with.

Re:Good hygiene, don't be a know it all.

[StuartHankins]

Mod parent up. I'm assuming we're talking about new or enhanced functionality, NOT stuff that should have worked to begin with. Often the solution given by a vendor is "upgrade to the most recent version, and let us know if you still have problems." There's nothing wrong with that in most situations. Often you can only backport solutions so far, and one of the main reasons to upgrade is (you guessed it) new and/or enhanced functionality. When a customer costs more to support simply because of their unwillingness to upgrade they are no longer profitable.

Of course, if the problem was something broken in the product you sold them -- some feature that doesn't work as advertised -- it's YOUR deal to make it right. That may mean backporting, it may mean giving them a complimentary upgrade, it may mean sending a tech to their site to debug the issue. In THAT case -- regardless of how profitable the customer is -- you need to do the right thing.

Re:Good hygiene, don't be a know it all.

[Idiomatick]

Toenails OK then?

Advice, Dawg

[Ethanol-fueled]

disclaimer: the following is common sense

I'm an electronics tech and not a programmer, but generally people adapt to the subtleties of their employers' corporate culture. First, read Dilbert and The Art of War if you haven't already.

Second, most importantly, do not participate in gossip and compartmentalize your work and play behavior. If somebody says, "man, person x is a dumbass," just respond with a disinterested neurtral "hmm." and keep an element of mystery to yourself. It will have a snowball effect -- people will see that you aren't a loudmouth, and so they share increasingly damning information about your coworkers and the company in general. They will respect you because you know how to keep your mouth shut, and you will know more than anybody else because you are the only neutral person on the floor. Bosses will also see that you are at work to work, not jabber, and they like that. Eat lunch by yourself so that you won't be obligated to reveal personal information.

To quote the Grand Nagus from DS9, "You don't grab power, you accumulate it." Inevitably, you'll run across a player-hater. Wait for them to make a mistake and then show the boss what you did to fix their mistake. An example(I've described before) from my last job was a fellow turd of a technician who tried to boss the rest of us around while talking on the phone and doing little work himself. After he sent 2 units out the door with the same serial number, I wrote a program to throw a warning if duplicate serial numbers were entered(easy reading keystrokes using the Java robot and since all serial numbers followed a certain format). I don't like passive-aggressiveness in my personal life, but that tact is a necessity at work.

One more thing - it's helpful to mention during the interview that you're there to work, not talk. It looks good and your boss won't think you're a dick. Being unsociable may cause others to think you're a dick, so offset that by helping anybody who asks -- just watch out for the malingerers - they'll feign ignorance and ask your for help as a way to weasel you into doing their work for them.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[Culture20]

Eat lunch by yourself so that you won't be obligated to reveal personal information.

Quickest way to alienate yourself and become first on the chopping block. If everyone eats lunch in, bring your lunch too. If everyone eats lunch out, go with them. If you can't afford to eat out, make an effort; suggest Taco Bell, letting the gang know you're strapped for cash but trying to be part of the group. You're not obligated to reveal personal information at lunch, but in my experience, people who ignore any and all lunches with coworkers are viewed as snobbish loners, and their work ethic seems to be the same (they are the people that ignore meetings, ignore policies, etc).

Re:Advice, Dawg

[logjon]

If you suggest Taco Bell, you're alienating yourself.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[BLKMGK]

Places of work are also social havens. People who can talk and find common ground often work well together. When I and others interview people to join our team we also interview their social skills to see if they will fit. If someone walked in the door with your attitude it would be a very short interview!

Re:Advice, Dawg

[cenobyte40k]

I really think the above is normally pretty bad advice. Being friendly, talking to people in the hall for a minute, eating lunch with your team are all good things that most people will enjoy and like about you. Being cold and distant only erodes moral and espree de corps which does not look good to your boss and will look even less good when your team reviews at the end of the year say "Not a team player", "Unfriendly", "Cold and Unapproachable". Just be clean, be nice, and get your work done and you will do fine. There are a thousand other things to remember, Don't gossip negativity about others, but feel free to gossip positively about people, Help those in trouble, be quick to forgive a mistake, always try to avoid getting anyone in trouble, Volunteer for the work no one else wants to do if you can. Etc etc etc, but mostly it boils down to be clean, be nice and get your work done.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[CyberSnyder]

Good way to network. Learn to network, it's as important of a skill as your technical expertise.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[Skreems]

As far as I've seen that kind of behavior will only get you so far. At some point you have to be able to voice an opinion, publicly, and then follow through on it. Otherwise you're going to top out at some point. Even if you limit that advice to just the social stuff, workers who act as a social nexus for a team are valuable in a completely different sense than skilled engineers. I don't know why you'd intentionally go out of your way to avoid all aspects of that role.

The best advice I can give is, ask questions. Ask everything you can think of. It doesn't matter if it's something you need to understand to do your work for the next two weeks, if somebody who's been around longer than you is willing to explain something to you, take as much of their time as they're willing to give. Some people avoid asking questions because they think it makes them look weak. It doesn't. It just makes you look stubborn, and you're going to get passed right and left by people who aren't afraid to admit they don't know things.

Once you understand enough start proposing fixes, and follow through on them. Don't be an ass about it, but make sure you keep the work you're doing as an active part of the conversation from day to day. It helps you because people will notice the things you fix, and it's a good way to get other people to chip in on parts of the fixes as well. If you can demonstrate that you're able to help steer the group in a positive direction, even in just one aspect of many, it'll go a long way. Remember you're here to build stuff, and that includes the team and the process, not just sitting in a corner turning out your coding assignments on time.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[edivad]

If you are a software engineer, and you can't afford going out for lunch, you might consider the chance of having been screwed during the salary negotiation.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[mmmmbeer]

I agree. At one company that I worked for, there was one programmer who just never joined the group. He was a good programmer, and a decent enough guy, but he just didn't socialize. When the company started going under, and layoffs started, he was the first to go. I'm certain it was because the Powers That Were felt (correctly) that would have the least impact on morale, compared to firing any of the rest of us.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[scotch]

Ironically, since he was the first to go, he probably got the best severance deal and a chance to look for a job before the rest of you guys flooded the market with your down-with-a-sinking-ship stench.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[Peach Rings]

employee in question is not a team player shown by their inability to communicate well with others. IT is about the flow of information and team work not about building walls.

Oh please, his strategy probably isn't a good one but drawing conclusions like "not a team player shown by their inability to communicate" is ridiculous. He's suggesting that people avoid off-topic small talk, not that they barricade themselves in an office and speak through the keyhole.

I suppose you have to make it look like you're doing something during the day though, and filling tomes with bullshit like "IT is about the flow of information" is as useful as anything else a manager does.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[kjart]

So, your advice is to be a quiet, passive-aggressive loner that keeps themselves apart from the group? Please do your coworkers a favor and quit now.

Seriously, though, the cynical answer is always that you aren't at work to make friends, but in my experience work is so much better when your coworkers are indeed friends. I worked several years in tech support while in university and the only thing that made it bearable was the people I worked with. Obviously, you can go too far - you don't want to spend all day talking to people and not get your job done - but the idea that you shouldn't be friendly since you're at work is absurd.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[im_thatoneguy]

Lesson 1 in networking: make everyone look good. You don't have to do it at your own expense but when people are thinking about who they want to work with who are they going to pick the guy who always takes all the credit or the guy who makes them look great in front of their bosses?

We're all geeks here: look at it like statistics. Advancement is as much luck as it is talent. If you are in 8 people's favor the chances of one of them getting into a position to return the favor is far greater than you yourself getting noticed.

As to the original question it's pretty simple for me:
1) Be competent. Nothing annoys me more than someone who doesn't know how to do their job and is a waste of space.
2) Do your fair share.
3) Be appreciative. If someone does something for you and you take it for granted, you probably won't see a lot of effort in the future on anyone's part.
4) Be helpful. If someone is struggling due to no fault of their own, stop and offer assistance. If someone feels like they're drowning and nobody helps they will get resentful.
5) Be pro-active. If there is something to be done. Do it. Keeping someone busy can easily become a full time job for a manager. If they're spending all day finding things for you to do then you're a burden. Don't be a burden.
6) Be friendly. If you're a loner and don't participate then people will be far less likely to overlook #1-5. People always give their friends the benefit of the doubt.

And of course Always Try To Make Everyone Look Good. Nothing will make you look better.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[Anonymous Coward]

Make everyone look good is an important piece of advice. My dad, a retired HR director, always claims that work relations are all about not losing face.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[discord5]

in my experience, people who ignore any and all lunches with coworkers are viewed as snobbish loners, and their work ethic seems to be the same (they are the people that ignore meetings, ignore policies, etc).

This is very true. We have a few loners like that who will go out of their way not to eat lunch with others, and it just so happens that it's those people who

• systematically don't show up or show up late for meetings
• will ignore any conclusions from a meeting if it doesn't suit their whims
• in general do not wish to cooperate with the rest of the team, even on the most basic of things as agreeing on an interface for two projects to communicate with eachother
• will be the first ones to go to management or project leads to complain that "the others" are not complying with their vision on things (and depending on the competence of management, this may be an issue)

Lunches, although more often than not being quite informal, are also very good replacements for those "status report" meetings internally. People will often discuss problems they're having with a project, and often you'll find someone at the dinner table with a solution. The barrier for divulging problems is also lower since there are no minutes of meeting that will come back to haunt you later, although any problem serious enough should probably still be mentioned at an official meeting.

As for the whole "personal information" thing I saw being mentioned a thread or two up from this one, don't divulge what you don't want people to know. If you've got hobbies that will be frowned upon, find a common ground of interests with your coworkers. A perfectly good example of this was a former co-worker of mine who was obsessed with space and science fiction. First of all, there's nothing wrong with these hobbies, but please refrain from making warp-core jokes at the dinner table. It's a real conversation killer if 80% of the people at the dinner table don't know or like star trek. The 20% at the dinner table that likes star trek will probably find their way to you during a coffee-break.

If you're short on conversational topics in the first few weeks and you're a bit socially awkward (no offense intended), here's a few pointers I've found that always break the ice:

• Previous work experience: people love stories about other companies/people. Keep the exact details hidden (names, dates, companies), but a few well placed hilarious anecdotes are usually appreciated, especially when they're relevant.
• News & politics : turn on the radio on your commute and listen to the news. Every person is an armchair politician and has a solution for whatever crisis is going on in politics. Keep your conversations as politically neutral as possible (which is harder in some countries than others), but people love to criticize those in power even if they voted for them. Don't go down the "party X sucks because they eat babies" road, it will come back to haunt you (in some jobs more than others).
• Be yourself, and don't try to overly impress or be someone you're not.

Oh, and find the group of people you like best, and go for drinks every now and then after work. If you don't like alcohol, have a soda, it's all just an excuse for informal socializing. There's a lot of people who say "don't divulge any personal information", but I would say "Don't divulge anything personal that could be used against you". You'll get a good feel for what is acceptable and not in the first few weeks. If you have very little to talk about, be a good listener.

Finally, there will always be people you can't get along with. Don't take it personal, and don't make it worse.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[Cederic]

Bullshit. Quoting Shakespeare in context can be unfeasibly intelligent. There's a skill in using a quote (fictional or otherwise) to comment on something.

By using a quote, you can infer the entire context of that quote, and apply it to the current situation. Thus an eight word quote can replace a twenty minute explanation of why something is so utterly fucked up.

Meanwhile you haven't had to explicitly say something's fucked up, so you haven't pissed anybody off, the person that's fucking it up will be too stupid to understand the quotation, where it came from and its implications so you wont piss them off, and if they do understand it then they'll be intelligent enough to appreciate the position and deal with it.

Learn how to use quotes well. It's a Nineteenth century skill that's sadly passed into disuse, probably because of fuckwits thinking it's emotionally immature.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[YttriumOxide]

Quoting fictional characters is proof of emotional immaturity, a detachment from reality, and also has escapist overtones

I've heard this before, but really don't get it. Quoting a fictional character isn't in and of itself a bad thing. It's just that that character happened to say something particularly interesting/valuable to you. Regardless of whether you heard it from an actor on a TV screen or written in a book, at some point a real human being DID think of it and write it down (the author/script-writer/whatever). There's nothing in particular that makes a fictional character's quote any less valid than a quote from a real person.

The argument could even be made that a quote from a fictional character carries MORE merit than quotes from many real people, as the situations devised for these fictional characters to be in are deliberately "out of the ordinary realms of experience", making the quote more insightful about the reactions of people in extreme situations. Any good author/script-writer/whatever will do their best to put themselves in their characters' positions when writing the characters' dialogues and thus you could consider them to be acting as a kind of basic philosopher attempting to interpret the human reaction to these extreme situations. Not sure I *would* argue that point without more consideration, but I believe it could be argued...

Re:Advice, Dawg

[complete loony]

Sure, ask questions. Lots of questions. But you also need to demonstrate that you absorb and apply any answer you are given. And you need to demonstrate that you can learn on your own.

As a graduate, when you start working you are probably going to be a burden on the company you are joining. It will probably take someone more time to guide you though implementing a solution, than it would take them to do it themselves.

While it's important to ask questions to increase your understanding. You should be able to point out the things you have tried while trying to find the answer yourself.

There's nothing more annoying than a coworker that is still asking the same questions, who doesn't demonstrate that they can apply the things you are teaching them, or who makes you feel like you are doing their job for them.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[dzfoo]

Gosh, I pity the poor soul who decides to take social advice from Slashdot. Heh.

      -dZ.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[Anonymous Coward]

Not everyone gets put in the same situation or has the same opportunities to really stand high enough above others to become the *only* choice for advancement in a position. That would be called luck.

Re:Advice, Dawg

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd agree with the above.

I'm a software manager at a BioTech company.
I hire 70% on fit and 30% on technical ablility.
Don't get me wrong. You must have the technical ability, or have shown evidence that you're smart and can pick things up quickly.
That's a given, and the subject of another post.
But the rest is whether you'll fit with the team.
Get your work done. Have a laugh and a joke. Try and gossip positively rather than negatively. Help us many people as you can, but don't let your core tasks slide.
Be proactive about the next piece of work.
Don't be too late in through the door in the morning, don't head out on the dot at 5pm most evenings.

Ahhh, that old gem. Get here on time, don't leave on time. You've phrased it differently, but it's pretty much the same thing.

How late is too late? 2 hours? 3 mins? Being late is OK? Can I be late every day - as that is what you imply? Why not just move the starting time back if late is OK?

Or maybe late isn't OK, but you are being wishy-washy and not speaking your mind. Let me guess, you accuse others of being bad communicators, but don't examine how others interpret you? Considering you clearly didn't use a spell checker, or properly proof read your post before submitting it, I think we can conclude you don't critically examine your communications.

Whoa betide a staff member leaving when they are meant to too, even (especially?) if they arrived on time. And lets be honest, traffic can be unpredictable so in reality people are early much more frequently than they are late. And that is never, ever, taken in to account by management tools like yourself.

Ever noticed that some staff will sit in their cars until the start of the shift? Ever noticed how some people will stay outside and try and contract cancer rather than come in early? Ever asked yourself why people might chose to do things like this? It's because work isn't enjoyable.

Fucking employers, and the wankers that enable them. Human beings have to give you significant fractions of their lives, and if you deem that they aren't giving enough they stand to lose their livelihood!

Your clothes should be clean, and you shouldn't smell bad.

But you won't be provided with clothing if you ever have to do a dirty task, and your job is office based.

Going to work should be enjoyable, you're going to be there a lot of your waking time.

Should be enjoyable, but isn't for most people. Because of the way the economy is geared up (to benefit those who control it), even in boom times there is always a pool of unemployed people. Therefore staff are always concerned about losing their job (because there is no guarantee they can walk into another one), and this essentially gives employers a gun to hold to employee's heads whilst saying "work harder".

Situations like that are never going to be enjoyable, even if you are having your cock sucked!

And either you understand the score, and are lying when you say "Going to work should be enjoyable", or you are ignorant.

Enjoy the company of the people you're with, and try and help them out

"....because my salary depends on it."

Enjoy

That trite little ending sounds so fucking false and fake.... like how McD's clearly forces its employees to say "have a nice day" (I assume, not been to a CrackDonalds in years). The individual behind the counter obviously couldn't give a flying fuck about the burger-meister they have just served.

The biggest issue with management sorts is that whilst they pretend to be your best pal, in reality if they are responsible for a budget, then they will probably have a goal on their performance review to spend as little as possible of that budget. So most managers stand to personally benefit for coming up with reasons why their staff shouldn't get pay rises.

And the list you have present

dont be a douche

[PopeScott]

Its the same as everywhere else in the world. Dont act like (or be) a douchebag. Socialization isn't some BlackArt.

How about being yourself?

[DragonIV]

It's easy, and requires no reconfiguration of your brain. Bonus: your current configuration drew you into studying this in school. Chances are, the same configuration is desired by software development managers.

Sincerely,
A Software Development Manager

Re:How about being yourself?

[Webz]

This can't work for everyone. Some developers are horrible, horrible people. Take a stereotypical nerd for example. Poor hygiene, poor social skills, completely out of touch with reality.

If this describes you, consider not being yourself. Although typically people that are described like this probably aren't self-aware of such things.

Humility

[Anonymous Coward]

Admit when you don't know how to do something. Admit when you don't understand something that someone has explained to you. Most of all, admit when you have made a mistake (such as a bug in production being your fault).

I don't know what it is about software developers, but collectively we'd have to be amongst the arrogant people in the world. For some bizarre reason, we pretend that we know everything and blame someone else for our own mistakes. The best developers can recognise their own short-comings.

Always give your best effort even if you think it

[Anonymous Coward]

Always answer a request to do something unfamiliar to you with "I don't know a lot about that, but I'll give it my best shot".

And don't express your outrage at how horrible either Windows or Linux is. As a new-hire, it's not your business to make these kinds of decisions. It doesn't matter if you hate or love an OS. If they ask you to use it, USE IT and get over it.

Good impression?

[Anonymous Coward]

Make sure the coffee pot is always full.

Play their game, not yours

[Webz]

A lot of nerds value things like talent, transparency, and being tacit when there are no errors. And also are averse to things like small talk, self-promotion, and various shades of lying. These are all great qualities. But they are only valuable to nerds.

If you really want to get in good with someone, and you'll have to, since a work environment is a multi-faceted beast, you'll need to play their game. Am I saying you need to sacrifice the values that make you who you are? Absolutely not. Will you require some tweaking? Probably.

For instance, small talk. If you don't ping people every so often, even if you don't need them for anything work related, you will lose out on social capital. It's good to keep everyone in your sphere, so to speak, so that it's easier to ask them for things as you need. Having a purely work-related relationship with someone is so dry and inorganic. I'm not saying you have to be BFFs. But you can cultivate a personable in-work casual relationship with someone to smooth out those moments that you need them.

I'm sure a lot of other comments in this thread will elaborate on the things I've mentioned. In general, it's about working on your soft skills. To put it in RPG terms, you are an INT hero who graduated from the top of their class. You know all the spells. But guess what, this is a STR and AGI challenge and you need to work on your charisma to rope in some help. No one is taking your INT skills away from you. But you'll have to work extra hard on navigating this new game called office politics that nerds typically aren't used to, exposed to, or want in their lives.

Good luck and tread cautiously!

Respect senior coworkers obviously

[sznupi]

Do not familiarize yourself with them unless it's clear you have their approval. Take over the duty of caring for the cofee machine. If you make some snacks, doing more of them than just for yourself won't be a big strain. Show enhthusiasm in replenishing office supplies (that includes also local supplies of your coworkers). Etc.

Woah

[Puff_Of_Hot_Air]

Am I glad that I don't work with you! "I'm here to work, not talk". Ever hear of the concept of colaboration? You know, working together as a team to achieve a common goal? Normally involves this thing I like to call "communication", you do it with your mouth. The advise on avoiding gossip is good, but the rest of your post smacks of some severe personality problems. Many of my co-workers are now friends, and this is a good thing! Lifes too short to be the "lone wolf". As another counter-point, you will never get anywhere if you don't socialize. It's half gaining peoples respect for your technical ability, and half gaining their trust because they know you. Get your head out of your arse, and join in!

Re:Woah

[Anonymous Coward]

If the "talk" is about work the "talk" is work. If the "talk" is about bullshit the "talk" is talk.

"Lifes too short to be the "lone wolf"."

Lifes too short to listen to bullshit.

Re:Woah

[amRadioHed]

Completely right. You can socialize with your coworkers without engaging in gossip and other destructive stuff.

The concept of keeping your work separate from your life is BS. Your work is a big part of your life. You spend more time with your coworkers than with your family and significant others so you're just setting yourself up to hate your job if you avoid building relationships. I've had some annoying coworkers and I've had some great coworkers that have become good friends both inside and outside of the office. If you're office discourages you from having some fun during the day with your coworkers then I'd look for another place to work before you burn out.

The important thing is that while you can control who you hang out with after work, you don't get to control who you work with. Show the annoying guys in the office the same respect you give the coworkers who you are good friends with.

Even balanced

[HTMLSpinnr]

Some random thoughts - I'm a Systems Admin/Engineer by trade, but have spent some time in the Manager's chair as well. Here's some thoughts that would have helped me for my first real job (i.e. why didn't someone tell me):

Don't act like a know-it-all, but don't be afraid to offer a concise answer if solicited. Us nerds tend to LOVE to elaborate to "make an impression". The only impression is "Thanks, now how do I shut this guy up?".

Don't be afraid to challenge your peers when your approach may be better, but know when to back down when you're out-numbered.

In a cubical farm, your voice or other odd noises carry much further than you think. Same applies for the office restroom.

Speakerphone is a privilege reserved those with an office and a closed door. (Ab)using speakerphone (esp. loudly) in a cubicle will earn many more enemies than friends. Consider a headset if you're going to be on the phone a lot and need to type or do other things with your hands.

Learn and understand your company's core values. Chances are, you hold some of these yourself or you wouldn't have been hired (at least by any competent manager). These values will help guide your management team's decisions, just in case you question their motives.

If you lied on your interview, you'll be quickly found out the moment you submit your first program. If it's a serious lie that you can't lie your way out of again, don't even bother showing up for your first day.

Learn how to comment your code, but don't do it so much that stripping them out strips 75% of the file.

Use sane variables that someone else can maintain. "a, b, foo and bar" are not sane.

Be willing to learn - always. This may involve learning OUTSIDE of your job as well.

You will be required to understand the business to a degree that helps you develop useful code. Don't be surprised if your first few weeks on the job involve training that seems initially pointless (stocking shelves, packing boxes, etc.). It will all make sense in the end, and may even help start the creative flow of "I could do that better".

Innovate or get out of the way. Complacency often gets you fired.

For some companies, continuous improvement is expected. For others, they prefer the tried and true. Don't be afraid to ride the middle if you aren't sure which one you're dealing with at first. Someone will set you straight.

Make sure your line of communication with your manager is wide open. Understand his/her expectations and deliver on what's asked. However, if the expectations are completely unreasonable, have a backbone and ensure they know why you can't rewrite Linux in a day.

This is hard at first, but employees who perform well need little management. Those who don't can expect constant management. Then again, some managers like to micro-manage anyway, especially their under-performers.

A lot of common sense

[Anrego]

There is such a wide variety of office "culture" that general advice is hard. I think a lot of it is trial an error.. you're going to at some point piss someone off or at least do something/say something and hate yourself for it. When you do, just try and learn from it and minimize the damage as best you can.

I guess one thing I'd recommend though is that while you (being fresh out of school) probably have all kinds of great ideas on how you're going to revolutionize everything, you have to accept that companies can't just change their process with ever new graduating class. Not saying you shouldn't try to bring in new ideas.. but don't be "that guy" who spends every meeting talking about how the way things are being done is totally wrong and how pair programming and executable UML would be perfect. The guys with 20+ years of experience may be set in their ways.. but they also (probably) have a lot of experience seeing projects succeed and fail.. having some new kid throwing ideas from a textbook at them can ruffle some feathers.

Re:A lot of common sense

[coryking]

It isn't they are set in their ways. It is that they've seen shit fail and know the warning signs. Your totally awesome idea about pair programming (hey, it says right in the XP book, they can't lie) might not be appropriate because XYZ. Your rad idea of cloud computing might be friggen awesome (everybody is doing it, you stone age losers) because I don't know, gee, you might have these pesky HIPAA regulations, whatever those are. Your idea of rewriting the codebase because the code is U.G.L.Y. might be totally awesome because you can totally do it in a week, but gee, the shit we have now works and it would take way longer than you estimate because, gee, that code has been around for *years*. Lord knows what kind of shit when into it to make it work--that code has history man.

Bottom line is, the most important thing is to admit you do not know jack shit. Better to admit you don't know anything because, brother, we all don't know shit--even people who have been there, done that. The people that truly do not know anything tend to be the ones that always brag about knowing everything. I have yet to meet a person who brags about knowing stuff that actually knows stuff.

Serious Advice

[aero2600-5]

The answer to your question depends on your boss, actually. I've found that there are generally two types of bosses: The better kind that are intelligent, do things right, and get shit done; and the crap kind, whom are generally idiots, don't care about doing things right, and are only out to make themselves look good.

So, if you have an intelligent boss, here's your advice:
An intelligent boss respects good communication and honesty. If you inform your boss enough about the projects and solutions you are working on, he'll have a better idea of the status of whatever project you are working on. If he can answers basic questions from the 'customer' without having to bother you, you're doing it right. I find my boss greatly enjoys that I keep him informed enough about my projects that he lets me operate pretty much unsupervised. Second, always be honest, especially with your boss. If you're having a problem with someone's crap code, make sure he knows about your impediment. If you've run into a tricky problem that will take time to figure out, or you've made a mistake that's going to cause to take longer on your project, be honest with him. A late project with an honest explanation is so much better than a late project with no explanation or an on-time project that has subtle flaws that will inevitably cause problems. Lastly, be flexible. We all know it's difficult to drop what you're doing and work on something else, but your boss is generally not the one setting priorities. If he asks you to drop what you're doing, do it, and if the change of direction will cost time, let him know, politely.

Now, if you have a crap boss, here's some advice:
Keep your mouth shut, keep your head down, do what you're told, and if your boss hasn't been replaced with a better one after two years, get those resumes out. A shitty boss will do everything in his power to make sure you can't advance.

That's all I got.
~Aero

Re:Serious Advice

[vinn01]

I would add that the advice for a "crap boss" should also be followed if the problem is your boss's boss. That great advice (keep your mouth shut, keep your head down, do what you're told) needs to flow downhill.

If your boss is acting irrationally, you need to understand why. It could be that your boss is following the "crap boss" protocol himself - doing what he's told, etc. You need to get in line with that.

Do not EVER give your boss grief for having to follow the orders of HIS shitty boss.

/ male pronouns used out of laziness, applies to female bosses too.

A Few more things ...

[starfire-1]

A few life lessons that may help...

- No matter how smart you may think you are, there are others who are smarter

- In almost all cases, software provides a service to those who need to use the software for their job. So when the customer/user asks or suggests a change, resist the urge to say "Why would you need to do that?" Listen to their needs, take the advice in stride.

- Managers have their own goals and methods that often work against engineering quality (specifically cost, schedule and award fee). No matter how "right" you think you are, you will probably not change their motives or methods.

- Your career and time are valuable. Choose who you work for carefully and don't misplace your loyalty. (See previous point).

wtf

[LBt1st]

Be yourself, otherwise you'll come off as fake and no one will like you.

+1 what the others said, and my two cents worth

[TheGrumpster]

Lots of great stuff here already, but as a corporate executive in charge of R&D, I'll put in my additional two cents worth... The first rule of business: don't take it personally. It isn't all fun and games. You're not there to make friends or have fun - you're there to do a job. Yes, ideally, on the whole, you should enjoy it - if not, you're in the wrong line of work; but there will be times that the job sucks ass no matter where you work. There will be assholes that rip on you, rightly or wrongly. Don't take it personally. Keep your spirits up and focus on the work at hand. This will get you way ahead of the rest of the crowd. Act as though time is of the essence - it is. You'll be amazed at how quickly you go from being a green kid out of college to being an old geezer like me. Don't waste your time on piddly bullshit. Work your ass off at all times - not for the company's sake, but for yours. Your life is ticking away by the minute - the only reason it doesn't seem that way is because you are young. Youth is wasted on the young - the sooner you understand why, the better off you'll be. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Take on the hardest work you can handle, then ask for something even harder. You don't grow by taking it easy; strength comes from adversity, not comfort. If you're comfortable, you're dead. Ask for help when you need it - there is no shame in admitting that one is in way over one's head; real achievers always are. Good luck!

Figure out what you're not good at.

[alvinrod]

Find out what you didn't learn in college but the company expects you to know and start learning. Fast.

You've probably learned a lot in college, but there are plenty of things you weren't taught that you'll eventually need to learn in order to succeed. Some of them are related to programing, a few are related the the corporate culture of the place at which you're employed, but a lot are just people skills that are acquired the hard way.

Most importantly, don't be afraid to ask for help if you're in over your head. If there's something you don't understand, ask someone else for help. It's a good way to make friends/acquaintances within the company and saves you the time of wandering around clueless. Personal initiative and a good work ethic will get you far, but when you first start out there are a lot of things you won't know or have any experience with.

Best of luck to you on your new career. Hopefully you do well and can impart some advice of your own to future generations.

A few thoughts

[MichaelSmith]

I have been a team leader at different times so maybe I can give the bosses perspective:

• Show up. If you get in late, then leave late. I never expected people to work extra hours but it is good to know when to expect a person in the office.
• Be a "can do" guy. Don't say "no, I can't do that" when asked to do a task. If you have to research something then say so. If the place is well organised there might be resources you can use anyway.
• Develop your skills. Its good to see people improve. Nobody has all the knowledge. If you are working on stuff outside work like OSS software then talk about it with your co-workers.
• Display an interest in technology. If you are in a technical field you should have an interest in technology, as opposed to jumping up in to management at the first opportunity.

There is a lot of overlap in the above. It comes down to "don't be a dope". Posting here suggests to me that your biggest problem is a lack of self confidence. Work on that by being open with people. Maybe by telling them you were the guy who posted "How to behave in a software company" on slashdot. That'l get some laughs.

The only other thing is to look out for sociopaths. Don't assume everybody you work with has a perfect personality. In practice a great many do not. I can't help you deal with these people. Sometimes they are hard to spot. A good skill it to learn not to reply to trolls. Don't let people wind you up. Getting somebody angry is a great way to beat them at something. If you are good at something you will likely get picked out for treatment early on if this kind of person is around.

Figure out how you're tracked

[quanticle]

You know that performance is tracked. That's only the the first step, though. You need to know how your performance is being tracked. Are you being graded on the number of bugs you solve? On the number of variances in the product? On what new features you implement? This is even more critical to know if your manager gives you a non-answer like, "We take into account a variety of factors." Ask around. Try to discover what those factors are. This isn't so that you "game" the system. This is so that you'll know what to spend time on, and what factors are of lesser importance. Spending a few hours writing great documentation isn't going to help you if your boss doesn't recognize the effort. That effort can be spent where it will be recognized, like getting started on the next bug.

Yeah, in an ideal world, you would be recognized for every activity that contributes to the product, whether its writing documentation, or fixing a bug. But you and I both know that in the real world, some things count more than others. Its important to figure what those things are and optimize your efforts for them.

and whatever you're told to do

[gwappo]

do the opposite

Real world advice

[NicknamesAreStupid]

#1 write good code because you will someday want to look back to one thing you did 'right' (whatever that means)
#2 arrive at work immediately after your boss and leave sometime after (s)he has said 'goodbye'
#3 wake up each morning with the thought that 20 million Asians are after your job at a third the cost to your employer
#4 know that coding for someone else is like building a BMW 750Li and watching some rich guy buy it from them
#5 Ritalin is better than caffeine
#6 listen to everyone and nod appreciatively, but do what you think is right
#7 most importantly, don't pay attention to this idiot

Expectation Management

[toygeek]

Never set an expectation that you cannot exceed. Do that, consistently, and you'll do well.

Re:easy.

[sonamchauhan]

Someone mark this funny please, not interesting

To answer: if expected to work weekends or evenings also expect time in lieu when things are slow. If this is not a given, raise it with the boss, but privately. Also, convey the impression you are happy to work overtime, but for important stuff - not a presentation the boss must make to his boss the next morning, but didn't plan for. Play this by ear, but convey the general idea so they are respectful in their demands on your time.

Plan on starting your own little business on the side (that does not impinge on your company's turf or time). Contribute to open source projects, keep your resume updated. Spend money on upgrading your own skills - buy books, sit for certifications, and if possible get your company to front up money. SAVE MONEY!! Once you can afford to, buy a house. Marry someone sensible and like yourself.

Earn your recognition

[Jahmbo]

Don't take credit for other peoples work and more importantly don't let others take credit for your work.

Re:easy.

[Skal Tura]

Working 60hour weeks for 40hour salary? You got to be insane.
That only helps create environment for abuse of the greatest asset a software company has. In my experience how much you work means shit, infact if you work longer hours you will have LESS respect from management, even if you are not a push over and get paid +50% extra hourly salary for those hours.

IT employees are probably the most abused, neglected bunch of employees in the world just because of that kind of an attitude. Good coders are actually highly creative, yet engineer like while sometimes code is just as much art as engineering, if not even more about art than engineering to create that very simplified, easy to maintain system. Simple code pretty much is an art, to see the connections and make it so simple. To be creative you need good environment, but promoting abusive behavior like working 50% more for the same salary is going to just make things worse, it's like saying "It's ok to whip my back bloody to get more productivity out of me, and ruin my personal life".

Re:Only on Slashdot. . .

[somersault]

I prefer antiperspirant to avoid developing smells in the first place rather than simply trying to mask them..

Re:easy.

[cas2000]

IT employees are probably the most abused, neglected bunch of employees in the world just because of that kind of an attitude.

yep, they certainly are... ...right after factory workers, checkout chicks, shop assistants, office clerks, [...], third world sweat shop laborers, and pretty much everyone else in the world below middle and senior management in large corporations.

sure, IT workers get shafted by their employers making unreasonable demands. but there's a huge difference between someone making 60-90K per year for physically undemanding work who has the skills to get a similar or better job pretty nearly whenever they want, and someone working a physically demanding minimum-wage (or lower if they're in a seriously exploitable category like "immigrant" or "stupid") shit job that barely pays enough to live on, let alone save anything to improve their situation. or worse, someone working for a $1 a day to make t-shirts and other stuff that rich western programmers pay $40 or more for.

so, while i know from personal experience just how much IT workers get taken for granted and ripped off, we're still MUCH better off than most.

BTW, this is absolutely *NOT* saying "just put up with it and stop whinging" (i'm way too much of a socialist to ever think that exploitation of any worker is acceptable). it's saying "being outraged by it is sensible, but get a sense of proportion and lose the ridiculous exaggeration".

In any tech company actually

[hugetoon]

Try to be curious and helpful without being arrogant.

Curious: when someone takes time to explain something to You, listen, even if You believe that You know already. Each new explanation may bring interesting details. Additionally listening is a way to be polite.

Helpful: When a teammate of Yours is struggling with a problem, take time to understand it and try to find a solution on your side, if You come with something that works (test to be sure), offer the solution: "look, I've got something interesting here, what do You think about it?"

The key here is be sincere and modest, especially when you're the youngest in the team, consider that for a senior it is not a very comfortable situation to be rescued by a rookie. Getting your help accepted is not always easy,

Free bonus: as time will come, You shall get a reputation of someone who can solve hard problems, those everyone else given up, You'll get opportunities to work on more interesting (and challenging) parts of projects and so on.

Good luck

Work

[Dracophile]

What should I be trying to do in order to make a good impression on the people at my work?

Too easy to ignore the loaded question there. I'll take it at face value: just work, and fuck everything else. Seriously.

Re:Work

[Xyrus]

Just work, and fuck everything else. Seriously.

Don't listen to him. Fucking everything else will get you arrested, and a mighty sore cock.

~X~

Advice from an old timer

[SC-Sportsman]

I've been a programmer at the same company for 18 years now. I'm a full time employee, but work with a lot of contractors. Here's my advice: - Find out what time you're expected to be at work, then show up on time, every day. Don't arrive late and work late thinking that you'll make up for it. Your teammates might need your expertise early in the day. It's incredibly frustrating when you're in at 7:00am and need something from a coworker who "might" show up around 10:00am. If you want to work late that's fine, but do it in addition to starting early and you'll go far. And don't make a big deal about how late you worked last night. We'll all notice how late you worked from the timestamps on your emails. - Be honest about your progress. If your code is 20% complete, don't tell your boss it's 40% done. If extra help is needed, it's best to get someone else involved early. - Dress appropriately. An untucked shirt may be fine at home, but it's not going to work in the corporate world. - Act like a professional. Throwing curse words around in meetings or even in your cube really doesn't get you very far. - Own the problems that you cause. If a program abends in production due to a change I made, I'm quick to acknowledge and own the mistake. Don't throw blame somewhere else. A buddy and I once took down the entire ATM network for a large bank because we forgot about the referential integrity on one of the main tables in the database. We went straight to our boss and told him what happened. He thanked us and asked us if we'd be making that mistake again. We said no, and we never heard about the issue again. There's lots more, of course, but most of these things are common sense. The corporate world doesn't care how 'cool' you are, or how far you've gotten in whatever the latest game is, or how much beer you can drink and still write functional code.

Re:easy.

[Antique Geekmeister]

And perform cold fusion in the coffee machine while you're at it.

The "willing to work overtime" is in direct conflict with the "start a business on the side". That business on the side is often a direct violation of your employee contract if it's related to your primary work, and keeping them separate can be very, very difficult: I've seen full-time employees spend their morning, on corporate systems, on their contract work, and notified their supervisor at both worksites that they were doing it. (It was obvious from the phone number and the IP address they were using to connect to the contracting site.)

Overtime is tricky. Salaried employees may not be able to charge "overtime", even when their paychecks are based on "40 hours" of reported work. Even hourly employees, paid for 80 hours a week, usually have their work quality degrade badly, and some workplaces demand it on a frequent basis. (It's common in startups or companies that can't get out of the startup mentality.)

Your suggestion of conveying willingness to work overtime, but for critical work only, is a very important one, and I agree with it. But get the requests on email or on paper if you can, and make sure it shows up on your progress reports or status reports, so your boss can use it for leverage to get more time for critical projects.

A couple of simple rules...

[warGod3]

Do not be a part of gossip.
Ensure that you use good hygiene.
Dress a little better than your counterparts.
Be quiet and withdrawn, but friendly (in other words, when you are heading to the bathroom, acknowledge coworkers with a smile and a nod, just don't go in there carrying a newspaper)
Lunch alone until someone invites you, then you don't have to go all the time, but go occasionally - same with after work engagements.
Be there before the boss and after the boss leaves.
Be positive, but not a kiss ass.
If you must bring in something to decorate your desk, keep it minimalistic (a picture or two and maybe something from your alma mater) making your desk into something that resembles a toxic waste dump crossed with a Nerf Factory is bad.
Be organized.

Read Dilbert books.
Read the Art of War (Sun Tzu)

Re:Dental hygiene

[Curunir_wolf]

2) You might even want to use a flouride mouthwash. I use Act Restoring (stupid name, but the one I use is the one that is alcohol-based; the other Act has no alcohol). I figure killing germs in my mouth is always good, and the flouride can't hurt.

I suggest you switch to a non-alcohol based mouthwash, especially if you are concerned about bad breath. Alcohol is a desiccant - a drying agent - and while it will initially kill germs, the drying will soon make bad breath much worse, and defeat the germ-killing abilities of your saliva, which will actually give bacteria a better chance of re-establishing itself in your mouth. Using alcohol to clean your mouth is very bad for you gums, and can actually lead to an increased risk of tooth decay.

Simple Number 1 Rule

[Glonoinha]

Actually it's really, really simple.
Find out who is doing your annual review, and who is responsible for promoting you when the time is right. This is generally the same guy. Then find out what his goals are for the year.

Do whatever it takes to make this guy hit his goals, with respect to anything you are working on. If you are working on something that isn't one of this guy's measured goals, you are wasting your time (and possibly adding negative perceived value to yourself.) If this guy has a goal to get a certain package out the door, working correctly and delivered to production, by December 31st - then that is your goal.

Your goal is to have the code production ready and in the hands of the customer by Dec 31.
Not to schmooze with the cool kids.
Not to make pretty code.
Not to refactor working code code or database tables so they conform to J2EE inheritance standards or 3rd normalized database standards or whatever.
Not to come up with a cool way to reduce CPU utilization of the application by 4%.
These are tasks you may or may not accomplish on the way to your goal, but your goal is to deliver code on time, and make the manager and team look good in the process.

You do that and you will do very well in your professional pursuits.

Re:easy.

[tclgeek]

Working 60 hours is a choice. You can choose to work for companies that don't expect that, or you can choose to work for companies that do. Not all software companies are sweat shops.

Me? I rarely work more than 40.0 hours. Often it's more like 38 or so, depending on how you count. Though to be honest I spend a few hours here and there on some weekends, and also several after hours thinking about work. And I always work extra hours when extra hours are necessary to get the job done. But my butt is rarely in the office chair more than 40 hours a week.

Re:easy.

[Anonymous Coward]

In California, you cannot be legally asked to work 60 hour weeks for a 40 hour salary UNLESS you are paid more than 99K annually.

Re:Duh, mod insightful

[ErroneousBee]

Im a pen clicker. It drives me mad too. I fiddle with whatever comes to hand. I often drop things when 'twirling', which can make an almighty racket when its a ruler, coat hanger or office chair.

My solutions:

• Use capped pens like fibre tips.
• Never take a loud pen into a meeting.
• Keep a 'silent' toy handy, like plasticine or a stress ball or piece of string.

Maybe clicky colleagues could be given stress balls and told to use them instead of pens./P