When I started out learning about programming and developing websites I had always envisioned the entire field as this mythical ecosystem of people and skills that allowed perfect autonomy and advanced understanding of the creative process. Idolization would be commonplace and technology would bow down to my every whim. After more than 10 years of developing and managing websites and building various web projects for companies, I still have a glossy view of my career, but also a more grounded view of what I really do on a daily basis.

I currently work as the Technology Specialist for a company that I’ve been with for 2 years. It’s been a wonderful place to explore my skill sets and expand on weak areas that I’ve always been curious to strengthen (hello, project management and team coordinating passive skills). But, that mythical view I used to have has been on my mind recently as I spend days and weeks coding less than I ever thought I would and spend far more time mentoring, teaching, and learning.

The Jack-of-all-Trades Tech Guy

Now as a “Technology Specialist”, I realize that I was hired to be this jack-of-all-trades plug into the various gaps that the company had within the technology department. However, one of my main tasks has consistently been developing and managing the company’s departmental and project websites. That mythical view, of course, leaped to the forefront of my mind when I began this position, making me believe my days would be spent in a nice office, hidden away from people as I created the latest and greatest on the good ole WWW.

Instead, the vast majority of my weeks are spent in meetings and connecting with teams, trying to:

• parse out what is needed in terms of presenting information on their website
• explaining the best practices to display information for end-user usability (i.e. – user experience)
• gathering copious amounts of information from a multitude of different avenues (yes, I’ll happily accept that information I need via email, Slack, in-person meetings, and that one-time airdrop you wanted to do…)
• teaching staff how to use their devices, the internet, and the applications they use on a daily basis (this bullet may be last, but it rivals the time needs of the other three bullets together)

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love what I do, but I feel like it took me a long time to dispel that notion that I would be this recluse programmer that everyone mystified as a wizard of code, hidden away in his office at all hours of the day. I had to become a people person. I had to learn and anticipate what would be expected of the final product by listening to each department’s needs and concerns. I had to prepare for coworkers to not know every detail that I may know as second-nature and figure out how to get them closer to my own understanding; usually via customized video tutorials and one-on-one guided walkthrough meetings. I had to be willing to take accountability for my mistakes and be willing to do better next time. I guess folks these days call those Soft Skills. I needed mine to be solid if I wanted to do my job well, and I think that is true of almost all developer positions today.

That One Time I Got Fired

I remember my biggest learning moment in my career so far as a website developer was during a job in Denver, CO for a startup company. I was fired because of a mistake I had made on a client’s website. The mistake was fully my own lack of verifying updates were completed before launching, causing the client grief, which led back to my project manager getting grief, and then my boss. Unfortunately, this was my first experience with what a bad company to work for looked like. My boss decided that yelling at me in front of an entire open floor-plan room full of staff about the mistake was the correct move. The worst part was I had completely idolized him up to that point and wanted to grow to be more inline with his developing abilities.

The mortification of my mistake and not understanding or knowing how I should respond to the situation was completely overwhelming. I was a junior developer that could have been an incredible asset to their company if they had just taken the time to teach and refine my process to their needs. I was also young. Young enough to let that moment turn me away from programming for 3 years before I was willing to work in the tech industry in any way again, out of fear and embarrassment.

I have held on to that moment ever since. I let it humble, teach, and fortify me. I had spent the entire year at that company working to be the mythical version of a developer I thought all developers were supposed to be. Soft skills weren’t even on my radar, I didn’t think I needed to be a people person to survive in this field. Now I know better. I think of that moment whenever I start to feel shame, guilt, or unease during public moments, or when I make a mistake. I remember that I know who I want to be as a developer and that if a company truly values me and my work, they won’t demean me in the way that Denver company did.

Stay Humble and Build Those Soft Skills

I know what a good company to work for looks like now. I know what my value is and how I should be treated, but also how I should treat my coworkers, and what I need to do to meet their expectations. Don’t let your mythical views of a developer take over. Stay humble and strive to be that plug within all your company’s gaps, because our skill sets as developers give us a unique ability to create solutions for any problem. Our toolsets give us the ability to build solutions in a myriad of different ways. We need to perfect our soft skills so that our clients, companies, and staff can depend on us enough to know that we may falter from time to time, but we are worth keeping because one mistake could lead to a giant leap of growth that will benefit them far more that starting over with someone new.