I write about growing as a developer, and advocating for people-first software.

Evaluating LLMs that write code by their perceived soft skills

In the context of programming, Large Language Models (LLMs for short) are usually measured and compared only by their ability to write code. This makes sense because code is easily measurable, even if some metrics have limited value.

We never focus on soft skills because we don’t usually include them in team meetings. They are given a task, complete it quickly, and that’s the interaction. But we humans care about our interactions with LLMs, and we notice when they change their tone or general demeanour towards us.

Who you are and who you want to be

Let me get vulnerable for a moment. Some time ago, when I was younger, I dated someone that didn’t like me. Sounds weird, I know.

This person didn’t want to date me but someone like me. I was kind, emotionally available, and a more mature individual. I was different from other people they dated in the past. And they liked that.

Being out of my depth (a lesson from my design background)

I wrote and talked a lot about how being in a developer role has changed my mindset, and what parts I enjoy and consider an improvement over my previous roles as a designer.

Design is always learning new things. To design a tool for an industry I know nothing about, or communicate something I don’t understand, I must learn about it first. It’s part of Design as a methodology.

Doing less to achieve more

Development is a great career if you like to keep learning. There are always new things to learn — technologies, methodologies, tools… — and many areas to explore.

This is the origin of the T-shaped skills, meaning you can have working knowledge in many areas, but usually one field of expertise.

Why you should write things down more often at work

Since I have the developer title, I have found writing things down to be very valuable.

This is a change from being a designer, because as a designer writing things down is usually only made in the context of deliverables and presentations, but not as part of your everyday work. At least this has been my experience, maybe other designers have better work methodology.

Why hybrid roles and people with diverse backgrounds are important

Explaining the value of my experience to recruiters and potential employers has always been a struggle for me. People see I transitioned from design to development and have doubts about my path, as it’s not as linear as others, or my future career moves.

This is, in part, because I refuse to rewrite my work experience. I have been doing frontend development since I started, but I wasn’t a developer but a designer, and that’s meaningfully different. So I highlight the development part and what I learnt, but I don’t change the job title to pretend I had a different career path.

Should I learn to code on my own?

I learnt how to code on my own. Which is a funny expression because I had help from hundreds or thousands of people I have never met.

Back then I learnt with documentation and people sharing experimental projects. Nowadays there are platforms where you can learn in a structured manner. But some aspects of learning on your own have not changed.

Be honest and tell people your worth

One skill that will influence your career growth is the ability to tell your success.

Hiring processes are broken. You surely have heard it many times already. The truth is hiring in tech is complicated, so even with appropriate processes, it can be messy. One reason is complexity, as it takes someone with knowledge and experience to accurately understand the requirements of a position and the experience of a candidate. But this is not the only problem; if it was experienced developers would make a fortune switching to recruitment.

Honesty, transparency, and vulnerability at work

It is a widely appreciated value. I rarely see anyone advocating for dishonesty.

Honesty can be tricky. When making a product, you can be honest in the sense that you do not intentionally lie or deceive, but dishonest if you make some information harder to find or use some patterns that encourage some behaviour contrary to the best interest of people using it.

The hidden face of being proactive

Being proactive is a very good skill to have, and one that many employers explicitly list on job descriptions.

The main part is being autonomous and working on things without waiting for someone else to ask you. It means that you are more productive, as you will not stop working if there is no oversight, and also you will be purposeful and able to add value to the tasks and projects you work on by analysing and proposing goals, methods, and courses of action.

When not working is a skill

Not working off the clock is something everyone agrees upon when talking about work-life balance because it is easy to measure in traditional jobs. If you need to be in a specific location to do your job, or if your job requires some physical actions or tools, it is not hard to know when you are or are not working. But what happens when you can work anywhere, and your work — or part of it — does not require any tool or physical activity?

One of them is going to your desk or using your mobile device to log into your work account when you are not working. This requires tools, so it is the easier part to modify because it is undeniable that you are working when you do it.

How should we learn about complexity in development

Learning how to code to become a developer used to start with simple things, like learning the basics of a language and making a simple application. But nowadays, junior developers have to deal with complexity from day one, and I do not know if we are adapting how we learn for them to be prepared.

Let’s take an easy example: WordPress. Before the introduction of Full Site Editing — FSE for short — knowing some PHP was enough to start creating templates or functions — which already was more complex than starting from scratch, as it requires navigating through a large code base: functions, classes, and hooks already defined to be learnt.

A different type of help

Yesterday a colleague reached out to me to ask for help with a project related to WordPress. And I was happy to help.

I did not offer any insight or knowledge; I just listened and asked questions to narrow the problem, and they could figure it out on their own. And I am happy I helped.

My bad

Being aware when you fail is extremely important. Voicing it when communicating with your team is crucial. This is also true when communicating with clients.

Telling a client you failed and acknowledging your mistake is not only a question of honesty and transparency but also helps build trust.

Feeling inadequacy

This year I attended my first WordCamp Europe. Which was also my first WordCamp, and my first conference as a developer.

It was overall a very positive experience, that I also got to share with Núria Ramoneda, a well-known member of the WordPress community who introduced me to dozens of awesome people.

Optionality as a strategy

I joined last Out in Tech‘s Career Talks, an event that includes talks about career topics and rounds with different recruiters. It is a great opportunity, especially for younger queer folks trying to start tech careers.

One of the speakers was Yeong Cheng (they/them), who talked about being empowered as individuals in professional environments. It was very inspirational and most focused on nonconformity, something I truly relate to.

Working from home

I work fully remote. It is the first time I work remotely, and I had a hard time at first. My younger brother, who had been working remotely for a while before I started, tried to warn me. I thought he was being dramatic, but he was right.

There are many challenges associated with working from home, especially when you have the freedom to choose your schedule. Fortunately, I work with people who have been very supportive and helpful in my transition.

What is next?

When working in tech, be aware of what is next. Not the next technology or tool, but your next step. Where do you want to go? What does the next stage of your career look like?

In our industry, there is an infinite sea of knowledge to learn. What makes it so fascinating is being able to learn constantly. But if you do not have a destination or a direction to move toward, you can easily end up swimming in circles.

Adding to a discussion three years later

At the end of 2019, I attended an independently organised event by and for people in the industry. There was a talk, and after some open discussion sparkled.

Someone was talking about fostering diversity when finding and hiring talent. And among the usual categories, one not-so-common. How can we find and hire people with diverse socio-economical backgrounds?

Do not build your career around your résumé

The advice I got from an expert on professional development is that a résumé is just a tool to get you an interview.

No one is hired for their résumé, but most are rejected because of it. When applying for a position, we need to understand the assignment. A résumé has to show we understand what the company is looking for and how we can provide it.