What for?

owning your career

I have had the pleasure to work with many software engineers over my career. I often look back on why I liked or disliked certain people and one axis of attraction that I find interesting is that of "valuing." That is, did they identify what are they after and could they explain why. Put another way, what did they profess (if anything) and why did they profess it?

A "value" is something you act to gain and/or keep. I've found that the people I most admire are those who work to identify and then seek values. They are critical thinkers who constantly learn and grow. They strike me as smart and as happy. I have tried to shape my thinking to be more like them.

At the same time, I have worked with engineers with whom I have clashed. I often did not understand where they were coming from or why. Often, this was my fault for not asking the right questions. Sometimes, such questions were the source of the clash in the first place. I think that reflecting on those experiences through the lens of "valuing" is clarifying.

I'm going to draw four categories of valuing that are in three broad tiers:
- Tier One: The Apathetic (no values)
- Tier Two: The Conservative and The Progressive (irrational values)
- Tier Three: The Value-Seeking (rational values)
I think these tiers will be helpful in discussion, even if we rarely meet people who wholly fit into one single category.

The Four Categories:

Apathetic (no values)

• Will take whatever technology or practice is used

  • "We are moving from VMs to serverless!" "ok"

  • "We are moving from serverless to containers!" "fine"

  • "We are moving from Azure to GCP!" "very well"

  • "We are moving from Scrum to kanban!" "all right then"

• Doesn't have an opinion one way or the other

• Tends to say things like:

  • "I'm just doing my job."

  • "It's a steady paycheck."

  • "I can turn it all off at 5 o'clock."

Conservative (irrational values)

• Likes it solely because it has been used in the past

• The "tried and true"

• Blindly supportive; little to no reasoning; likes it because it's old/well-known

• Often dogmatic; will follow principles and standards because others have already done so.

• Tends to say things like:

  • "XYZ is a best practice"

  • "Acme, Inc. uses XYZ, you know"

Progressive (irrational values)

• Likes it solely because it is contemporary

• The "shiny and new"

• Blindly supportive; little to no reasoning; likes it because it's new/not-well-known

• Often rebellious; will dispense with principles and standards because they are principles and standards.

• Tends to say things like:

  • "XYZ is so 2000/2010/2020"

  • "The next big thing is ABC"

Value-Seeking

• Uses reason to evaluate both the old and the new

• Asks questions

  • "Why?"

  • "What for?"

  • "What problem is this trying to solve?"

• Has opinions and reasons for her opinions

• With new evidence, is open to changing his opinion

• Adopts principles and standards that make sense for what she is doing.

So what?

Do any of these categories resonate with you? Do you recognize moving through any of them during your career? I certainly have been each of these at points in time and I work diligently to remain a value seeker.

Almost everyone goes through the "apathetic" phase, especially when you do not know much. This could be at your first job or perhaps while you are in school. Likewise, many of us go through both staunch phases of "conservative" and "progressive" as we mature.

Maturing isn't a process of time, or even of experience; it's a process of learning to think. I've met value-oriented thinkers in college classrooms, and I've met senior leaders at large companies who stopped thinking (and valuing) many years ago.

Seeking values is an achievement. It takes purpose and effort. Even identifying the particular values takes thought - asking yourself "of value to whom and for what?" Recognizing the correlation between "good thinking" and "good valuing" is, itself, a mark of both.

Be a value-seeker, both in your career and in your life more broadly. Start asking questions and look for fellow engineers genuinely interested in finding answers. Be scientific. Be curious.

Most importantly, understand that your career is yours to make. If being a “rational valuer” resonates with you, then start taking steps in that direction. And, by doing so, you can become the engineer that you admire. Rationally seek values. Own your career.

Further Reading

"Beware Best Practice" by Paul Swail
"Appeal to Authority" by Martin Fowler
"Values" in The Ayn Rand Lexicon