{"id":7542,"date":"2017-09-03T16:30:48","date_gmt":"2017-09-03T15:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intercom.com\/blog\/?p=7542"},"modified":"2021-08-18T17:53:46","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T16:53:46","slug":"traits-of-exceptional-engineers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/traits-of-exceptional-engineers\/","title":{"rendered":"The difference between good and great engineers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"opening_paragraph\">You don\u2019t design your engineering culture by writing blog posts or printing posters. It\u2019s shaped by the people you hire, the things they do, and the traits you reward and celebrate.<\/p>\n<p>Choose wisely, and deliberately. Know what you value, and why. It\u2019s easy to form this list in hindsight, but for anyone growing an engineering team, I urge you to think upfront, spelling out what you value most, then fight to hire for, encourage, support and celebrate those traits.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve helped grow our engineering team from 4 to more than 90, and hope to keep building the best possible team for many years to come. Here are some of the traits and skills that I think make good engineers great, and why they\u2019re important to me.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"1-exceptional-engineersare-ambitious-and-determined\">1. Exceptional engineers\u2026are ambitious and determined<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>They\u2019ll dream big and push themselves, you and your team towards bigger achievements than you initially thought possible.<\/li>\n<li>They have a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brainpickings.org\/2014\/01\/29\/carol-dweck-mindset\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">growth mindset<\/a>. They crave feedback and new challenges that will push them to grow, they persist in the face of setbacks, they see effort as the path to mastery, they learn from critical feedback, and they\u2019re inspired and learn from the success of others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why is this important?<\/strong><br \/>\nAmbition is a ceiling to success. Great companies have huge ambition \u2013 which initially comes from awesome founders, but is sustained and thrives with the addition of ambitious people you hire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"quote\">&#8220;Ambition is a ceiling to success&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ambitious and determined people will fight for impact and push for greatness. Ambitious and determined people will outperform, and grow higher and faster than people who are perhaps more talented, but lack self drive. Bet on them, and spend your time helping ambitious people grow.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"2-exceptional-engineershabitually-simplify\">2. Exceptional engineers\u2026habitually simplify<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>They make the code they own or touch simpler, clearer, easier to work with and faster to change. They do this out of habit, <a href=\"http:\/\/martinfowler.com\/bliki\/OpportunisticRefactoring.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">opportunistically<\/a> and continuously.<\/li>\n<li>They help their team, and those around them do the same.<\/li>\n<li>They always have some long term vision of where the technology they own should evolve to, they bring others in and get them excited about that vision, and they drive towards it step by step.<\/li>\n<li>As Martin Fowler once said: \u201cAny fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why is this important?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe default path for growing and evolving software is that it becomes more complex over time. Every single change will probably make your system more complex, unless you\u2019re <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/videos\/build-boring-software\/\">deliberate at simplifying<\/a>. More complexity -&gt; higher cost to change + higher risk of a breaking change -&gt; harder to innovate -&gt; harder to grow -&gt; less satisfying -&gt; more \u2639<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"3-exceptional-engineerscan-debug-anything-quickly\">3. Exceptional engineers\u2026can debug anything, quickly<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Not by guessing \u2013 they shun <a href=\"https:\/\/utcc.utoronto.ca\/~cks\/space\/blog\/programming\/ProgrammingViaSuperstition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">superstition<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Instead, guided by instinct, but with rigor and process, they will narrow in on the root cause from different angles. They\u2019ve a wide arsenal of sources and techniques to gather information; from the code and tests, the network, the OS, the DB, and from logs and metrics. They won\u2019t stop till they\u2019ve found the actual root cause.<\/li>\n<li>They\u2019ll reproduce it and narrow in on the problem using techniques like the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/stackoverflow.com\/questions\/23865274\/what-exactly-is-the-saff-squeeze-method-of-finding-a-bug\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">saff squeeze<\/a>.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>They\u2019ll fix the problem well, and learn about how it ended up broken, and adapt to avoid similar failures in future.<\/li>\n<li>They can do this because they are deeply connected to the details (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.joelonsoftware.com\/2001\/04\/21\/dont-let-architecture-astronauts-scare-you\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">not an architecture astronaut<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>You won\u2019t hear them say \u201cI\u2019m a Java engineer, I cannot debug this web page,\u201d or \u201cthat\u2019s someone else\u2019s code.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Debugging is a fun challenge for them, a learning opportunity and an opportunity to simplify.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"quote quote-left\">&#8220;The quicker you can fix, the more time you can spend building value&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why is this important?<\/strong><br \/>\nThings will break. Spending time fixing is opportunity cost. The quicker you can fix, the more time you can spend building value, and the less trust you lose with your customers. The better you fix, and simplify, the more time you free up in the future that may otherwise have been spent fighting further regressions. Good fixes come from those who deeply understand the problem.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"4-exceptional-engineershelp-others-be-great\">4. Exceptional engineers\u2026help others be great<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Great engineers are engineers that everyone <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kitchensoap.com\/2012\/10\/25\/on-being-a-senior-engineer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wants to work with<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>They understand that they can have more impact by helping those around them to learn, improve and thrive, and they get joy from that.<\/li>\n<li>They understand that \u201cProductivity = \u03a3 of talent x teamwork\u201d and they naturally <a href=\"https:\/\/kateheddleston.com\/blog\/onboarding-and-the-cost-of-team-debt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">raise both talent and teamwork<\/a> on a team.<\/li>\n<li>They take care of the unglamorous or mundane quickly and effectively, and without fuss or huff.<\/li>\n<li>They aren\u2019t selfish with all the hard problems, they know that others need challenges to grow, and they support them well, but at the same time they regularly demonstrate their ability to solve hard problems well\/quickly.<\/li>\n<li>They are good teachers. They\u2019re patient and good at adapting to support the different learning styles of those around them.<\/li>\n<li>They hold high standards, but bring others there with joy, not conflict (they are &#8220;kind to the coder, not to the code&#8221;).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why is this important?<\/strong><br \/>\nCompanies that aren\u2019t growing, die. Companies that are growing, thrive. The same is true of people, and teams. Hire people that fight for growth in those around them.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"5-exceptional-engineersknow-whats-valuable\">5. Exceptional engineers\u2026know what\u2019s valuable<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/pragprog.com\/book\/rjnsd\/the-nature-of-software-development\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ron Jeffries says<\/a>, \u201cKeep it simple, make it valuable, build it piece by piece.\u201d But value comes in many, many forms. Typically, as a company, we value features that sell. But we also value feedback, we value speed and quality, we value people\u2019s happiness, we value creativity and innovation, and we value the ability to move fast. A great engineer has good judgment on what matters most at any point in time.<\/li>\n<li>They\u2019re customer focused, not just technology focused.<\/li>\n<li>They\u2019re ambitious, and they make sure they\u2019re solving big valuable problems.<\/li>\n<li>This applies not just to what they choose to do, but also to how they do it. They weed out inefficiencies in process and communication \u2013 they act like they\u2019re spending their own money.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why is this important?<\/strong><br \/>\nA company can scale if you can trust and empower teams and units to be autonomous around their area of ownership or objectives. At any point in time, there are literally multiple firehoses of ideas to explore, things to fix or iterate on, but you\u2019ve only got a small bucket to fill. Trust comes when you know your people fill that bucket with the right things.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"6-exceptional-engineersare-creative-and-positive\">6. Exceptional engineers\u2026are creative and positive<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>When things are difficult, they give everyone hope and courage.<\/li>\n<li>They encourage possibilities, instead of saying \u201cthat will never work.\u201d They will understand the problem and what\u2019s valuable, and give those around them options.<\/li>\n<li>They are leaders, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.feld.com\/archives\/2014\/10\/victims-leaders.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">not victims<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>They push and encourage innovation both in the product they\u2019re building, and in the way they are building it.<\/li>\n<li>Their positivity is balanced with healthy skepticism \u2013 they\u2019ll be more paranoid about whether what they create works properly \u2013 rather than celebrating victory once it appears to work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why is this important?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe default path for startups is towards failure. A team that thinks it\u2019s going to lose, will lose. Positivity is infectious, and brings the best out in people. A team that has belief and is constantly creative in its efforts to succeed has a chance.<\/p>\n<p>Be that engineering team \u2013 hire those exceptional people to be your great engineers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-cta-quote\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/careers\/engineering?utm_medium=ii-blog&amp;utm_source=recruitment-cta&amp;utm_campaign=20170903Exceptional&amp;utm_content=text-footer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">If you&#8217;re interested in joining the R&amp;D team to help build Intercom, check out our current openings here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You don\u2019t design your engineering culture by writing blog posts or printing posters. It\u2019s shaped by the people you hire, the things they do, and the traits you reward and celebrate. Choose wisely, and deliberately. Know&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":13379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"category":[12898],"tags":[115,212,147],"coauthors":[370],"class_list":["post-7542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engineering","tag-company-culture","tag-development","tag-talent"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>6 qualities that make a great engineer | Inside Intercom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An engineering culture is created by the people you hire, not by posts and posters. 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