Based on the author’s personal experience, experience and reflection, this article provides some suggestions for programmers who have worked for less than 10 years, especially for newcomers.

To help you understand workplace rules, avoid mistakes, seize opportunities.

Ten Years and Three Stages


The first decade of an engineer’s career is a very important stage. From a career planning perspective, it is recommended to divide the decade into three stages to set goals:

Stage 1 (first three years) : Laying the foundation. Base on developing technical ability and soft skills. Second stage (four years) : From individual ability to team organizational ability. Focus on communication, collaboration and leadership. Stage 3 (four years) : Continuous strengthening of leadership (technical leadership and management leadership).

Phase I (three years), objective: excellent individual combat capability

At this stage, the most critical thing is to complete the transition from school to workplace and from student to professional.

Main training: technical ability (Tech) and SoftKills.

For example: in-depth understanding of algorithms, design patterns, data structures, time management skills, communication skills, etc. To be able to successfully complete the work, lay a good foundation.

At the same time, need to understand the enterprise operation and product development process, involving development, testing, documentation, and a variety of commonly used tools and so on.

Stage 2 (four years), Objective: Excellent command of basic units

This stage is to complete the transition from individual to team operations — from one person who can do things well, to a group of people who can do things well.

Main training: executive ability and delivery ability (estimate, plan, execute, deliver), communication ability, organization and coordination ability, the ability to lead a group of people to complete things.

Being able to play by yourself and being able to play with a group of people are different concepts. Emotional intelligence and soft skills are increasingly important.

In addition, the expansion of technical ability to the depth and breadth of development, focus on a certain aspect of deep digging, synchronous also want to expand the breadth of technology.

Stage goal: To become an expert in a field. For example: product knowledge, databases, parallel computing, performance optimization, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and so on.

This stage is also an important time to consider your future career development and plan your industry, company, and function options.

If you are not able to do your favorite job due to the limitation of your college major, you can strive for a change at this stage. You can choose to re-enter the hot industry on the rise. The high-tech industry as a whole is entering a golden age.

Phase iii (four years), objective: excellent team integrated combat capability

Through previous accumulation, I have acquired the ability to lead a team and accumulated good technical and management abilities.

In the following four years, I was technically responsible for architecture design, technical direction and scheme selection; Administratively responsible for multi-team collaboration to complete product delivery.

Main development: leadership, quick decision making and difficult decision making ability. Empowerment and time management are challenges that must be met. To lead multiple teams and accomplish larger scale project development and delivery.

Managing multiple teams at once can lead to an increasing time crunch. As a manager, we need to make use of standardized processes, organizational structure and personnel training mechanism to continuously improve team effectiveness.

Creativity and innovation, as well as the ability to challenge the status quo, will determine whether or not you can take your career to the next level.




Ten years later

With ten years of good planning and execution, there should be a good chance of becoming a technical specialist or r&d director. Ten years from now?

After ten years of work, many people hit a career plateau. Because upward competition will be more and more fierce, opportunities will be less and less, the cost of choice opportunities will be higher and higher.

At this point, I would like to recommend an architecture technology exchange group: 650385180, which will share some videos recorded by senior architects: Spring, MyBatis, Netty source code analysis, high concurrency, high performance, distributed, microservice architecture principles, JVM performance optimization has become an architect’s essential knowledge system. Also can receive free learning resources, I believe that has worked and encountered a technical bottleneck code friends, in this group will have the content you need.

Then, in the consideration of work, you can consider some large platforms, high-speed development of the industry.

For example, leading enterprises in the industry and fledgling start-up companies. In this way, relatively speaking, there will be greater opportunities for career security and future development.

At this time, we should strive to improve our industry visibility and reserve certain space and opportunities for future choices. Spare time to write books, participate in industry sharing, do training, etc., will be helpful for the future transformation.

The opportunity to join a very early stage startup is something I would advise you to consider carefully. Don’t make a move unless you’re a co-founder or you’re really excited about it. After all, the success rate of startups is extremely low and the risk is extremely high.

Ten tips for Becoming a Great Employee


There are many contents in this field on the Internet. This paper mainly considers different aspects and puts forward a combination of 3+3+3+1: three about ability cultivation, three about people and things, three about communication, and the last one about family.

Lay the foundation

  • In-depth understanding of algorithms, design patterns, data structures and other basic theoretical knowledge. With a solid foundation, you can get twice the result with half the effort.

  • Coding, testing, debugging, continuous integration, common tools, log analysis, problem recurrence, system commands, etc.

Manage your time well

Time is our most precious wealth, investment is time, harvest is salary and growth! How to make good use of time is the most important thing.

  • Get into the habit of setting a plan and sticking to it.

  • Set priorities and don’t put off the important things.

To understand organization

The company is a small society, where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, there are different cultures and ways of doing things.

  • Understand the company’s vision and mission, core values; Understand each department’s responsibilities, key people, and department’s goals.

  • Build your own personal network within the company and learn how to survive in the organization.

  • Actively interact with colleagues in other departments, including sales, finance, marketing, human resources, etc. Keep abreast of company status, rules, and potential opportunities.

active

  • He is capable of any dirty or tiring work and is not afraid of hardship or fatigue.

  • In daily work, take the initiative to observe, take the initiative to think, take the initiative to suggest, take the initiative to achieve.

  • Take the initiative to learn new skills.

Modest and prudent

  • When you don’t know anything, ask for advice. After understanding some things, more should understand do not understand too much.

  • Everyone has their own merits. Respect others.

  • Slow things make a circle. Look before you leap, never act on impulse.

Moderation in all things

  • Do not go to extremes. Strive to do things reasonably well, grasp the art of balance.

  • In management, we should be both lenient and strict. Being strict, people shrink back and dare not take the initiative to do things.

For example, the emphasis on process and documentation is a good thing, but when taken too far, it becomes a serious loss of efficiency, resulting in a pile of documents that are not very useful and difficult to maintain. Coding requires discipline, not without it, but overemphasizing discipline stifles individuality and creativity.

Master basic communication skills

  • Know when to say something, who to say it to, and how to say it. Express yourself clearly and concisely without being repetitive.

  • Know how to communicate with different people in different ways.

  • Understand that there are things you must say, things you don’t need to say, and things you can’t.

Learn to praise others

People like tall hats, your subordinates, your coworkers, your boss.

  • Praise and support in public, question and advise in private.

  • Don’t be sarcastic.

Manage your own boss

  • Get to know and know your boss. Take the time and be willing to get to know and get to know your boss better.

  • Manage expectations and goals in a timely manner and understand the boss’s situation and aspirations.

  • Use and respect your boss’s time and resources. Everyone’s resources are limited.

Everything goes well with a happy home

  • Cultivate one’s morality and raise one’s family.

  • The body is the capital of revolution, exercise, work and rest.

  • Maintain work-life balance.



About promotion and salary increase


How to determine the salary scale

In more standard companies, HR will take the following aspects as reference when setting compensation:

  • Market pay guide

Benchmark the job, based on a salary survey of the target market or target company.

Too low with the market pay, can not find the right people. It is not economical for the company to pay more than the market.

  • Remuneration report

They are often purchased. Mercer, for example, can tailor compensation reports to the company’s requirements, sampling target industries, companies and positions.

  • The company’s target location

This determines the general salary range for a position. The salary range for a position is usually described in terms of 25P, 50P, and 75P.

To put it simply, if you take 100 people and rank them from the lowest to the highest, the person at the 25th place is going to be in the 25th place, and the person at the 75th place is going to be in the 75th place.

Most companies are positioned at 50P within the industry. First-tier companies generally aim for a salary of 75P to ensure that they can attract the best talents in the market.

Lower than 25P, higher than 75P, mostly belong to the exception, need special approval.

If it is lower than 25P, special Market Adjustment will be made. Above 75P, the part of salary may increase relatively little, and the way of bonus can be used to motivate employees.

Know the salary range

Salary ranges are confidential to employees, but they can be found out as much as possible through market data or other means.

With understanding, we can determine:

  • Whether or not you are treated fairly — makes a big difference in increasing job satisfaction and happiness.

  • Know the differences between different functions and know which ones will pay off.

  • Help yourself decide whether to stay with the company or move to another company.

The scenario of a raise

Normally, scenarios associated with a promotion or salary increase include job changes, normal performance reviews and job changes, and Counter offers after leaving.

Here are some specific suggestions for these scenarios:

  • Change jobs

Ask the headhunter or otherwise to get an idea of the salary range for your target position. Otherwise talk for a long time, both sides are satisfied, but the salary talk is not close, delay everyone’s time.

Current salary is an important reference and one of the most important factors in salary negotiations.

However, the current salary is only a guide. What really determines is the market salary range for the position. That’s why it’s important to know the compensation report, to give yourself something to shoot for in the negotiation.

Should we discuss expected salary or expected increase? In general, I would recommend talking about target salary, not expected increase. Target salaries are more objective, and increases can sometimes give a false impression.

The process by which a Hiring Manager can hire a candidate is usually free to determine salary if the candidate’s salary is within the salary range.

HR/ headhunter, because of their own interests, as long as you are willing to talk, will help you strive for the highest salary within the range.

A sign-on Bonus is usually used as a one-time incentive for a candidate to make up for any loss, such as a Bonus, stock, etc., resulting from changing jobs. Whether you’re satisfied with your salary or not, bring it up first.

Understand the performance appraisal process and cycle of the new company, and determine the next salary adjustment time after joining the company. To manage your expectations. Avoid having too high expectations and regret later.

In short, the entry salary must talk about satisfaction, do not talk about when to talk at this time?

Remember: There is an opportunity cost to changing jobs.

If you find the job you really want, and you’re willing to give it your all for the next 3-5 years, don’t hesitate to leave.

If you are just in a bad mood and want to change your environment, you might as well take a vacation. You can study at the company’s expense, so why not? Even if you are laid off, there is enough compensation to make the transition smooth!

  • Performance review/salary adjustment

Timing: Most companies conduct annual reviews, with midyear reviews for special cases.

The advantage of the year-end assessment is that everyone participates and everyone has a share; The challenge is that monks are fleshy and have limited metrics. The advantage of the assessment in the middle of the year is special, flexible operation; The challenge is randomness, not regularity.

Process of performance appraisal and salary adjustment:

  • HR determines the scoring standard and distribution requirements of performance appraisal and the budget for salary adjustment (%). Promotion usually has a separate budget.

  • 360-degree evaluation: boss, subordinate, peer, sibling department, partner of other functions. It is very important to establish a good interpersonal relationship and network and maintain a good cooperative relationship.

  • Adjusting the budget is divided first into the larger pool of the company, then into the smaller pool of the team, and finally down to everyone.

In general, teams don’t vary much. Because the average increase is usually a semi-public data, the difference is too big to cause some unnecessary trouble.

For multinational enterprises, the budget of each country varies greatly, depending on the local economy and labor market conditions.

Big bosses usually have a little extra money on hand to deal with special situations. As a team leader, you can get more support for your team by preparing early and continuing to discuss the challenges with your boss before salary changes.

That’s the size of a team pool, and if there’s one more person, there’s fewer others. Team managers tend to keep their core employees happy, and star performers tend to keep annual salary increases of 2-3 times the average.

At the same level, new recruits are usually paid more than older people. The next year or two is likely to see below-average increases.

Autonomy of each department, then how to coordinate across departments? The reality of this varies greatly from company to company, so be aware of how your organization operates.

As an employee, it’s helpful to know some of the following things if you want to get a satisfactory raise:

How much discretion does your boss have?

How important is your boss to his boss?

Are there any established rules for getting promoted?

Is there always a fixed number of years for promotion?

Is it hard to get promoted to a position? Are there any requirements for the annual performance appraisal?

…

The Key Players — When it comes to getting a raise, it’s important to know who the key players are. In general, the following roles are critical.

Human Resources: responsible for specific operations, cross-team horizontal comparison, etc.

I suggest eating with HR colleagues to get some key data and advice.

HR Manager/Director may not be able to help you, but certainly can hack you. Establish a good working relationship with HR leaders, and have strong support at critical moments.

Immediate boss: Determine your performance review.

Whether you like your boss or not, having a good working relationship with him is a must. Challenging your boss is often very, very difficult.

Even if it doesn’t directly determine your salary, a good relationship with your supervisor will make a difference.

The boss’s boss: the key person in your career development.

If possible, make your boss’s boss appreciate you. But it is a delicate matter that requires great skill and emotional intelligence.

Key members of the team.

When you’re not the core of the team, get along with the core of the team.

He/she will give you a lot of help, their positive feedback and evaluation will also create a good atmosphere for your development in the team.

  • Counter Offer

After you offer to leave, the company may make a CounterOffer to retain you.

In this case, the result of accepting and staying is usually not very good.

If the things you don’t like (such as the job description and position) haven’t changed significantly, it’s a mistake to stay based solely on salary.

Get a good Offer at a good time and don’t hesitate to leave. Otherwise, you may be left with a huge regret.

Of course, don’t reject it outright. Be open and objective. You’re essentially comparing two offers. Don’t assume that just because you quit, you have to leave.

Specific suggestions for a raise

Finally, here are some specific suggestions for getting a raise:

  • If you have an idea, talk about it. Don’t assume, take it for granted, or assume that your boss knows your ideas. It’s best to do it at a critical moment, like:

    • The project is at its most tense, the team is at its most critical, and your boss absolutely doesn’t want to lose you. Promise you things, sooner or later, will be delivered, and the boss will feel indebted to you.

    • Do it before the performance reviews and salary changes begin. If they’re done, you might miss the next round.

  • Communicate naturally, to the point, and leave a little room for both parties.

  • If you really don’t know how to talk to the boss directly, you can communicate indirectly through HR.

  • If you quit, share where you are and how your salary has changed. It’s also a sign of respect and trust for your boss. If there is still a possibility of staying, be honest about the conditions under which you would consider staying. Give the boss a chance if he really wants to keep you.

  • Don’t complain to your co-workers about your salary.

That’s not going to solve anything. Be sure to talk to your boss and keep it a secret.