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Developers’ Biggest Career Mistake: Not Promoting Themselves and Not Getting Credit for Their Work
Promotion is part of the job
If you don’t take the credit for your work, someone else will.
One of the biggest mistakes developers make is thinking other people will notice their hard work. The other people either forget or take the credit for themselves.
If you want the credit for your work, tell people what you did and assume no one outside of your project is paying attention to what you are doing.
If you don’t tell people about the work you are doing and the ways you are improving, people will assume your work is average and you aren’t learning.
I have seen this scenario play out many times
- Developer works hard on a project, spends blood, sweat, tears and extra hours.
- Developer doesn’t spend any time telling senior people about their good work.
- Developer assumes managers know about good work.
- Developer gets average review.
- Developer gets frustrated and leaves.
The biggest mistake developers make in their career is not taking credit for their work because they don’t tell people and promote themselves.
Some people will read the line above and say developers shouldn’t need to promote themselves
Wrong. All jobs and people need to promote their work and take credit. There are three good reasons.
- Workplaces are full of people who want to progress and take credit for good work. Even better if they had a minor role.
- Other people don’t care about your career as much as their own. To a manager, you are one of many developers.
- Managers or seniors have an unreliable source of information. You need to make sure they get the right information about your work.
Developers have a nasty habit of leaving the reporting of their work and achievements to their managers. It’s easy to believe work is a fair environment where great work is rewarded with more pay, better roles and opportunities.
