There are a lot of misconceptions about developers. Having started my career as a developer and building TradeRev, I\u2019ve come across a few. In addition to the funny, oddball stereotypes we see on hit TV shows like Silicon Valley, developers seem to have developed an unfair reputation when it comes to how they learn, work, grow and solve problems.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re a young person who\u2019s considering a career in development or just starting out in the industry, here are five long-held beliefs about developers you\u2019ll quickly discover are myths.<\/p>\n
While knowing the latest technology is certainly a huge asset, developers must have a firm foundation in the fundamental principles of development. Unlike technology, which is always changing, solid fundamentals\u2014along with a passion and an ability to learn quickly\u2014are the true building blocks that set talented developers up for success.<\/p>\n
Sure, an eight-week boot camp can help introduce you to new technologies, but the best developers build and maintain a deep knowledge bank which they continuously supplement through learning, experience and growth.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a clich\u00e9 of developers as introverts who are most comfortable working alone in front of their computer screen, but it\u2019s simply not true. Developers are competitive, and that same competitiveness drives them to work with the best. To grow quickly, developers must surround themselves with talented people they can bounce ideas off and learn from. Collaboration, mentorship and teamwork are all required if you want to develop a ground-breaking app that can revolutionize an entire industry.<\/p>\n
At TradeRev, we always put a premium on developers who come from team environments, versus being \u201cthe guy\u201d who built a cool application himself. Great development will always be team-oriented\u2014 the better the team, the better the developer.<\/p>\n
Money is important to us all. That\u2019s no secret. But in a world where almost every new startup offers competitive salaries, stock options and incredible perks, the true differentiator for most developers becomes the chance to do meaningful, challenging work. Developers want to have a voice in what they do.<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, developers are builders. They want to build cool things, and they can\u2019t be innovators just anywhere. My company currently has 20 developers on staff; many of who started with us at the beginning and\/or have been with us for well over two years (and we all know time for developers is measured in dog years). These developers, and the 15 we\u2019ll soon be hiring, have their inboxes stuffed with job opportunities from tech companies offering free gym memberships, fancy snacks, game rooms and big-time salaries, but they choose, or will choose, to be at TradeRev because we provide the opportunity to make a real impact, and the recognition of their contribution individually and as a team to developing industry-changing technology.<\/p>\n
The world of development is one of constant deadlines (for instance, our mobile app solution went through 23 different updates last year), so one would assume there is no time to make mistakes. However, if you want to be a great developer, you need to take risks.<\/p>\n
Innovation by its very definition requires risk and a willingness to make mistakes, so I\u2019m always looking for developers who are brave but also accountable. There\u2019s always pressure to deliver, but I\u2019d rather see someone swing for the fences and miss than hit steady singles. Chief Technology Officer, Wade Chia, and I wrote the first TradeRev mobile app ourselves, so we understand to be a market leader you need to push boundaries.<\/p>\n
We tell our employees to own the mistake, adjust and swing again. After all, you can\u2019t build something new if you\u2019re not willing to try something you\u2019ve never done before.<\/p>\n
Many newbies believe they need to specialize upon entering the industry, often forging their identities through them by saying things like, \u201cI\u2019m a front-end developer\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m an iOS developer.\u201d But young people shouldn\u2019t be afraid to be generalists. Versatility is a huge positive.<\/p>\n
As talented developers advance in their career, they grow into generalists with deep knowledge in many areas because technology keeps changing, and they\u2019re eager to learn and try new things. So while an individual may come to us specializing in one area of development, they quickly grow into full-stack developers who can build features from the front-end to back-end, over different platforms and even set up the architecture. It all comes back to having those fundamentals, and being engaged and challenged by the work that you do.<\/p>\n
I hope this article helps dispel some of these developer myths and gives young people a fresh perspective into what it takes to succeed in the industry. If you\u2019re a talented, passionate individual who\u2019s looking to jump-start your development career, you can learn more about life at TradeRev<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Endras is the \u200eCEO and co-founder of TradeRev<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are a lot of misconceptions about developers. Having started my career as a developer and building TradeRev, I\u2019ve come across a few. In addition to the funny, oddball stereotypes we see on hit TV shows like Silicon Valley, developers seem to have developed an unfair reputation when it comes to how they learn, work, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76206,"featured_media":79467,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[102,238,44],"magazine-region":[],"magazine-series":[],"magazine-topic":[],"class_list":["post-79427","magazine","type-magazine","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-News","tag-business-tips","tag-developers","tag-guest"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine\/79427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/magazine"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/76206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine\/79427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/79467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79427"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-region?post=79427"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-series?post=79427"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=79427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}