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The Quiet Path of Software Development
In our industry is common to hear about Rockstar Developers or Code Ninjas. They are very popular on Twitter, they have plenty of medals on Stack Overflow, and their GitHub contribution graph looks very green. Not to mention the endless amount of technical articles they write.
And that's fine. This go-getter type is not just welcome, but highly necessary in our industry. They are great achievers.
But it's certainly not the ONLY path. There's a more moderate, and less stressful option I call The Quiet Path.
But it's certainly not the ONLY path. There's a more moderate, and less stressful option I call The Quiet Path.
Quiet Developers follow a journey in which exposure (social media, relevance, reach) is not factored into their actions. As a consequence, they are less popular (perhaps invisible), but have more cognitive resources for better judgement.
Rockstar devs get their leverage out of their influence, that's why they ask for likes, retweets, claps, and follows. They are popular, beloved, and even inspiring. But this narrative has become the mainstream, and we have just too many rockstars now: https://twitter.com/UberFacts/status/1260345764301201414
Quiet devs are just like code janitors. They get the job done in the background, keep things tidy, and don't make a fuss about it. https://twitter.com/sarah_edo/status/991421712989208576
Quiet developers work on legacy code without a judgemental attitude. They assume the previous developers did the best they could with the resources they had at hand https://twitter.com/jakevdp/status/1164711214938673152
Quiet developers speak as if the pay for every word. They don't need to have an opinion on everything. They pick their discussions carefully. https://twitter.com/ariffmalik_/status/1274626834714333184
Quiet developers put support over advice. So instead of telling you: "You need to fix this", they ask you: "How can I be of help?"
Their GitHub contribution graph might look empty, but that's because their contributions are not always in the form of code:
Their Stack Overflow profile might look poor, but that's because they are busy supporting the junior developer next to them.
Their follower count might be low, but that's because they are more interested in leading their team, not a crowd on Twitter.
Their follower count might be low, but that's because they are more interested in leading their team, not a crowd on Twitter.
Quiet developers are not as splendorous as rockstar developers but they are just as necessary and appreciated 
