5 Healthy Engineering Qualities

I'm 42 and I've been writing code for most of my life, starting at 16, so at the time of this writing, that makes it 26 years that I have been doing this.

I still love to code. I write code almost every day, even when I had been in management roles, I always worked on hobby projects. Now, I work in big tech as a full time engineer and love what I do.

Some people I mentor starting out in engineering want to know if they are right for choosing a path as a software engineer. I was thinking about this and have some ideas that may help those folks decide and for those who are already well into their engineering career, leaning into these may help keep up your engineering interest.

You Love the Look of Code

It sounds a bit silly but to this day, I still feel that code is beautiful. Syntax, good readability, formatting, what goes into language design, developer ergonomics are all things I value. If you are getting started in software engineering, code looks cool to you. If you are a more seasoned engineer, you spend extra time making sure that you ensure that code is readable and your colleagues adhere to agreed upon readability best practices. These are all great signs that you are on a solid path.

You Are Creative

I find that there are two major situations that require my creativity as an engineer: when I'm presented with a tough technically challenging problem or when I need to design something that is not common.

You Talk to Users

There should be a feedback loop of: ideate -> build -> ship -> talk to users -> improve and this should feel rewarding.

You Are Continuously Expanding Your Skillset

This could be either going deep into the technologies that you work with or learning new technologies.

You Are Not Driven By Money

Being driven by money is fine, but if it is your only goal, then you may not do quite as well as others in your career, at least from my own personal observations.