Ten Things You Should Know As A Developer

Andres Taylor gives us his top ten things he's learned about software development.  The list is insightful and definitely worth reading.  Here are my two favorites and my interpretation of them:

  • It all comes down to working software - People pay you for what software does, not how it does it.  No one is paying you to be clever.  They're paying you to get some job accomplished.  Thus, only be clever when you need to be.  This hearkens back to previous discussions on the idea of tradeoffs in software.
  • Your colleagues are your best teachers - In my words, it is better to be a little fish in a big pond than a big fish in a little pond.  One of the things I really enjoy about working at Microsoft is all the smart people I get to work with.  There's always someone who knows more than me on any subject.  We have a culture where people are willing to teach too so there's always something to learn.