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How hands-on an Engineering Leader should be?

July 22, 2023 by Ashwin Leave a Comment

Engineering leader toolkit

Most of know and realise by this time that a hands-on engineering leader is respected and probably more successful in their career. But there are other key responsibilities for senior leaders, in addition to be technically active. In this post, I will share my thoughts on how hands-on an engineering leader should be and how to maintain a healthy balance with other duties.

What we mean by hands-on engineering leader?

By hands-on, we mean that an engineering leader, irrespective of his or her seniority, must be able to understand working details of products and applications they own.

Here are some example hands-on activities of a software engineering leader:

  • Participate and contribute to system architecture
  • Lead technical design and solution discussions
  • Understand technical and delivery metrics
  • Articulate with engineerings in technical language

But, do these alone justify the role of a leader?

Probably not. The true value of a senior engineering leader comes from another important contribution.

A senior leader must be a multiplier – enabling and empowering others to perform at their fullest potential.

If you haven’t read it yet, Multipliers by Liz Wiseman is an excellent book on this topic.

A leader must create a right environment and help everyone in the team play their “A” game. This is where their true value comes in.

Also in his iconic book High Output Management, Andy Grove talks about high leverage activities for managers and leaders.

A high leverage activity is something that sets an individual or team for success over an extended period of time.

Here are some high leverage activities for a software engineering leader:

  • Coaching, training and mentoring employees
  • Effective 1:1 meetings
  • Creating a culture of efficient meetings
  • Setting up right tools and platforms to increase engineering productivity
  • Using right metrics and creating feedback loops for better software delivery

In short, any activity that has a throughtput-to-effort ratio greater than 1:1 is a high leverage activity.

To be or not to be…

In essence, as you grow in your career as an engineering leader – try and maintain a good mix of hands-on and high leverage activities.

While being hands-on is essential to continue and wield your expert power, high leverage activities are the ones that can up your game to the next level.

Always remember – “What got you here, won’t get you there!” (Thanks Marshall Goldsmith!)

Filed Under: Leadership, Life Tagged With: engineering leader, high leverage activities, leadership, multipliers, successful leader

How to build a Tech Career for yourself?

July 14, 2023 by Ashwin 1 Comment

In my last 20 years with the tech industry, I was fortunate to work with some of the great minds and wonderful organisations. My tech career is peppered with numerous successes, several failures, happy moments, things to forget and above all – valuable lessons learned for life.

In this post, I am sharing my thoughts on effective ways to build a tech career – specially targeted at young and early-stage professionals. Though it makes equal sense to experienced professionals, being mindful of these early in your career has potential for maximum returns.

#1 Create a primary techstack for yourself

Choose a primary techstack for yourself. This is essential.

Current industry landscape requires you to switch between multiple technologies and platforms, almost on a daily basis. But this doesn’t mean you don’t have your primary techstack.

Think of it as a “T” shaped skill. Depth is where your primary skills are.

Your techstack should be well-rounded, to be able to create a technical solution end-to-end

Here’s one example techstack: Java / Spring Boot / ReactJS / AWS / Redis / MongoDB / PostgreSQL

If you have deep skills on each of these components, then you can create a production-grade solution from ground up.

#2 Focus on solutions, not just code

It is great to start as a start programmer. But as you grow in career, start thinking about solving problems in addition to writing good code.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when developing software components:

  • What is the business problem I am trying to solve?
  • Does my solution offer the best user experience?
  • Do I have to code the entire solution or integrate with existing ones?
  • Are there low code (or no-code) solutions that can solve the business problem faster and cheaper?
  • Is my solution easy to maintain and change as business evolves?

Being aware of business context and having a customer focus, helps you stand out as a great software engineer.

#3 Never underestimate the power of soft skills

Strong soft skills can take you to places that your technical skills alone cannot.

Here are some common skills that will make you stand out from others:

  • Simple and clear communication (verbal and written)
  • Giving feedback the right way
  • Negotiate priorities
  • Giving impactful presentations
  • Managing conflicts
  • Persuading everyone to get things done

A good technologist can not only build great software but be able to ship it, by navigating the challenges and constraints.

#4 Build a strong network

A strong network of like-minded professionals is essential to thrive in your tech career.

Have a diverse network – consisting of fellow engineers, interns, senior tech leaders and other industry influencers. It will not only broaden your perspective in the current job but may open up irresistible opportunities.

Here are some ways to build a network:

  • Attend meetups and conferences in your regions
  • Volunteer to help student communities
  • Engage with technologists and the content they create, using LinkedIn, Twitter, their own blogs etc.
  • Make it a habit to regularly be in touch with your ex-colleagues and other acquaintances

Remember to give more than you take from your network

It not only creates good karma but get you the support, when you need it.

#5 Be a fast learner

At any stage in your career, never stop being a learner. Also, be a fast learner.

Technology advancements are never ending and it is essential to be aware of them. A good technologist must constantly expand their toolkit.

When there is a problem to solve, use your toolkit – the broader and wide range of tools in it, better will be your solution.

Use opportunities provided by your organization or local government, to up-skill yourself. Treat it as an investment on yourself that has long term returns.

#6 Grow people

And finally, a good leader creates more leaders. Find opportunities to help and grow people.

Here are some ways to grow people within and outside your organization:

  • Mentor junior employees
  • Participate in new employee onboarding programs
  • Train others on things that you are good at
  • Give back to the community by sharing your knowledge
  • Genuinely elevate your team members and if there is a need, be ready to fight for it

To Summarize

Here are some tips to build a strong tech career from the start:

  1. Create a primary techstack for yourself
  2. Focus on solutions, not just code
  3. Never underestimate the power of soft skills
  4. Build a strong network
  5. Be a fast learner
  6. Grow people

A bonus tip is to be self-aware and aware of power dynamics around you – so that you can grab right opportunities when they present themselves. It can take you a long way!

Filed Under: Career, Tech Tagged With: career, success, tech, techcareer, technologist

What is Blockchain and Why do we need it?

January 15, 2023 by Ashwin Leave a Comment

In this post series on Blockchain and related technologies, I am trying to simplify explanation of concepts that are sometimes made very complex by courses and articles across the web.

Let’s start with the basics. What is Blockchain? What is the problem that it tries to solve and why do we need it?

I will use Simon Sinek’s golden circle model (why-how-what) to explain the fundamentals.

[Read more…] about What is Blockchain and Why do we need it?

Filed Under: Blockchain, Intro to Blockchain, Post Series, Tech Tagged With: blockchain, tech, web3

Create your first Application Load Balancer (ALB) in AWS

September 13, 2022 by Ashwin Leave a Comment

Create an ALB in AWS

In this post, you’ll learn the key steps to create your first Application Load Balancer (ALB) in AWS.

ALB is used to distribute the incoming traffic across multiple targets like EC2 instances — thereby providing single entry point to your applications. It works on Layer 7 (application layer) and provide additional functions like routing, health checks etc. You can read more about ALB in the official AWS documentation.

Here are the key steps to create your first ALB.

[Read more…] about Create your first Application Load Balancer (ALB) in AWS

Filed Under: Cloud, Tech Tagged With: alb, aws, cloud, learnaws, load balancer

Create your first NFT with Smart Contract

August 21, 2022 by Ashwin Leave a Comment

In recent times, I spend most of my personal coding time with Smart Contracts. One useful resource on the internet is Road to Web3 course from folks at Alchemy.

You can follow their tutorial here to create your first smart contract and mint an NFT with it.

I am outlining the steps in this post — I suggest you to use this as a guide to using the tutorial from Web3 University.

[Read more…] about Create your first NFT with Smart Contract

Filed Under: Blockchain, Tech Tagged With: blockchain, nft, smart contract

Leading with Action

June 29, 2022 by Ashwin Leave a Comment

There is an innate habit with humans — that manifests itself from early childhood. Learning by watching.

The habit continues well into our adulthood. It also impacts our actions in corporate life.

[Read more…] about Leading with Action

Filed Under: Leadership, Life Tagged With: lead, leadership

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  • How hands-on an Engineering Leader should be?
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  • Create your first Application Load Balancer (ALB) in AWS
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