Soft Skills Engineering - Jamison Dance and Dave Smith

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

Software How-To
**Soft Skills Engineering – Jamison Dance and Dave Smith**

It takes more than great code to be a great engineer. Soft Skills Engineering is a weekly advice podcast for software developers about the non-technical stuff that goes into being a great software developer.

Latest Episodes:

Episode 95: Paying For Help and Scared of Recruiters Feb 08, 2018

Show notes

This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions:

When should asking a developer pal for help go from something that is free because you’re pals to something you should compensate them for in some way?
I’ve never worked with recruiters before. I’ve always found jobs from friends and other connections. Is working with recruiters worth it? What should I watch out for?

I finally found the creepy Jack and the Beanstalk video! It is still horrifying.

Episode 94: Dodging Recommendations and Full Sleeve Tattoos Feb 03, 2018

Show notes

This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions:

As a “less than ideal” engineer was leaving our team, he asked if he could use me as a job reference. How should I tell them no?
What are your thoughts on having full sleeve tattoos (ie, tattoos that cover the entire arm) within engineering?

Episode 93: Negotiating Annual Raises and Part-Time Work Jan 27, 2018

Show notes

This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions:

My job doesn’t seem to leave room to negotiate salary or raises for our year-end review. Is this normal? How do I negotiate in this process?
Can working part-time, when it’s possible to work full time, to invest in personal development look bad to a future employer?

This tweet storm by Sarah Mei is good and relevant.

This is the video about making your own font and anagraphs that Jamison mentioned at the end. It is SO GOOD.

This is a funny and enlightening video that people of taste and culture will appreciate. This one is also good. Ok fine, they are all good.

Episode 92: Career Death by Friction and New Job Woes Jan 19, 2018

Show notes

This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions:

A previous job involved a coworker who, over time, became very difficult to get along with.

I did my best to talk it through with him, but he would only ever say I needed to “fix my attitude”. I tried to deflect and avoid conflict, but he’d continually impose himself on the situation. (Assign himself to review my code, come into my cube and demand my help, etc.)

I had good relationships with the rest of the team, and they all agreed that he was out of line. Yet management viewed the situation as simply friction between two devs, with no clear instigator.

Being a source of team friction is career death, and I’m personally embarrassed that anyone got that impression of me.

How can I (or other listeners) handle this situation so that I don’t get painted as “part of the problem?”
I’ve started a new job. I’m enjoying the work and the culture slightly less, and I discovered my salary could have been much higher had I negotiated harder. Is it too late to negotiate for a higher salary after I’ve already joined?

Dave mentions this article on salary negotiation. It’s good!

Episode 91: Job Requirements and Teams of Misfits Jan 11, 2018

Show notes

This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions:

How often do candidates get hired who don’t match the requirements listed in a job posting? Is it a waste for me to apply to all jobs I come across even though I only have about 1/3 of what they want?
I’ve been moved to a newly formed team. I suspect the team consists of people nobody really wants to work with. What are my options in a situation like this?

Episode 90: Upper Management Dislikes Me and Undeserved Job Offers Jan 05, 2018

Show notes

This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions:

Upper management has a negative impression of me because of an early manager. How do I manage and improve my reputation with mid and upper level management, who I interact with very rarely?
I have a job offer I feel unqualified for. Should I decline this offer I honestly don’t deserve, or face a massive amount of impostor syndrome and risk not delivering?

Episode 89: Departed Engineers and Employment Contracts Dec 28, 2017

Show notes

This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions:

How do I deal with co-workers who constantly cite the decisions of engineers who don’t work here anymore?
My employment makes it sound like the company owns my past work and side-projects. Is this true? Is this normal?

Episode 88: How To Dress For Interviews and Learning To Interview Dec 22, 2017

Show notes

This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions:

How do you dress for interviews? Full on informal beach bum? Smart casual? Formal suit tie?
I’m a new developer and have been asked to interview incoming developers. How do I learn how to interview?

This is the NoRedInk interview process. This is the blog post Jamison likes on getting data out of the technical portion of the interview. This is a slightly pessimistic look at pitfalls in the standard interview process. Google wrote a great article about structured interviewing that might also be helpful.

Episode 87: Pushover Coworkers and Productivity Metrics Dec 14, 2017

Show notes

This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions:

My peers give up and say “have it your way” whenever we have technical discussions. How do I get them to be more vocal about their opinions?
I like the idea of measuring things, but metrics seem easy to game. How do I effectively measure team and personal productivity?

Jamison cites this tweet and this blog post about examining your own productivity.

Episode 86: Sharing Salaries and Offensive Words Dec 07, 2017

Show notes

This week Jamison and Dave answer these questions:

Could you (Jamison and Dave) share some salary information publicly? It would help to know how much others make.
My boss uses an offensive word in technical discussions. How do I ask him to stop?

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Soft Skills Engineering – Jamison Dance and Dave Smith

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected