How important is teamwork in a coding career? Should I not become a programmer if I rather work solo?
Maybe I am thinking about teamwork too narrowly. What kinds of collaboration might a coder do?
HI @User1 !
There are solo developers who choose to build out freelance careers and build applications by themselves.
There are a whole bunch of articles on freelancing and the realities of becoming a solo developer if you are interested in learning more.
But if you want to work for a company, then you will need to be able to work with other people. And not just with other developers.
You will need to work with marketing, sales, designers, etc.
When you work in a company, there are a lot of moving parts when building out software. So you will need to communicate effectively with your team on any blockers you have and be able to communicate estimates on when you will complete a task or new feature.
You will also need to review other developers work and go to meetings.
When issues come up in production, you will need to jump on a call with the rest of your team to help figure out where the issue.
Hope that helps!
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Teamwork is paramount. You will rely highly on other people, and other people will rely highly you.
You might have windows of solo working during the day, but you will be continually coordinating and working with your colleagues.
Being a good team player is one of the most important traits of a software developer.
Who pays you? Your boss/client is a fellow human you will have to work with, which will require teamwork.
Even if you are “flying solo” as a freelancer, your “boss” is your clients. These clients can be anyone anywhere wanting your skills, you will have to work with them.
Work with other developers should be easier than working with non-developers, simply because you will be able to relate to their tasks better. Your boss/project-manager/client will have different concepts and different goals. This isn’t to say working with them will be harder, but it will be different.
Keep all of this in mind when working with other people in general for any job. Everyone has their own goals and ways to go about things.
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You don’t necessarily have to spend all your time coding with others and You could work on projects yourself, neverless developing good interpersonal skills and learning how to communicate effectively is a crucial point when it comes to being a programmer because at some point or other you’ll have no choice but to work with other people weather its discussing your project, developing the right market plan or even simply asking for help when you get stuck somewhere.
I agree with everything mentioned above. I’d like to add that you could not seclude yourself entirely. If you’re freelancing, you’ll have to consistently “sell” yourself, especially before securing regular clients, and this demands soft skills.
If your goal is to minimize communication, I suggest considering smaller companies without extensive technical departments, preferably offering remote opportunities.
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It’s normally [much] more important than just “coding”. Building anything even moderately complex normally involves more than one person. Those people have to work together. Note that the stereotype of the introverted programmer often isn’t wholly incorrect: programming needs a lot of thought, patience and concentration. But this doesn’t invalidate the fact that you can’t get around having to work closely with people.
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