The most interesting and challenging part of working in tech

Last weekend, I talked with a person who has worked for over 20 years in tech. We discussed life and work in general. From this conversation, I gathered several takeaways that I found very interesting and want to share with you.

Technology

Technologies come and go.

Of course, it is very important to be open to learning new technologies to get the job done. However, going beyond that is reserved for a few: those fortunate souls who work on the next big thing on the horizon or maintain a widely known framework used by many people and companies. I am thankful for the hard and sincere work of those people, which allows me to provide for myself day by day.

People

Working with people and learning about how they approach their work fascinates me the most.

More important than technologies are the people behind the screens. One has to be empathetic or develop that trait. People working in tech are very, very different. Of course, depending on what you are working on, it requires a different skill set. But from what I have gathered so far, people working on the same product or system are very different in their approaches. This becomes even more obvious in alignment meetings or requirement analysis. Working in tech requires much more effort in communicating with your colleagues, your team, your manager, and your customers - more than I expected in the past.

Techniques

Some people are more sensitive, some are more talkative; with every person, you will learn how to communicate with them over time.

When talking with someone about a task, a requirement, a feature, or something similar, I recommend techniques such as:

• Paraphrase: Summarize what you have heard and repeat it for yourself and your interlocutor, so the other side can reflect on your interpretation. They get the chance to learn what you have understood and how their message has reached you.
• Extract actionables or takeaways: This is often missing after a typical long meeting. People talk about various topics, and after the meeting, nobody really knows how to proceed or who is responsible for what. Instead, try to create short, reasonable steps for how to continue. Also, setting a key goal at the beginning of the conversation can be useful.
• Double-check: When talking with someone, try to find out if your interlocutor is still on the same page. You could ask, "Should I explain in more detail, or should we continue?" Your counterpart will thank you for that; often, they do not want to be rude and interrupt you, so they will appreciate your double-checking.

Thanks for checking in. See you next time!

~ jacky