How to be valuable as a developer
Companies see developers as a tool. And not the most usable one.
Have you thought why developers, doesn’t have a voice in business decisions?
Well we could argue that developers are not business people. Which is right. Actually, developers are the product. The product people.
Without a developer there’s no product. Without a product, business people can’t make the business go on.
We could argue again that each one has its part in the business. Which is right. But isn’t.
I said “each one has its part in the business”. If a developer has its part in the business, how can’t a developer make a business decision?
Because a one purpose tool, is a one purpose tool. And nothing else.
Being a tool
Don’t get me wrong, it is awesome to be a tool. Being a tool, makes you usable, and valuable to fix problems. However, there’s some drawbacks in being one.
And these drawbacks always includes being only the developer. As I said in my previous post, developers are not the ones presenting its products, or the ones that doesn’t get in trouble for a bad decision.
This kind of behavior exists because of business people. If you have a few years down the road, you know that multiple times where you knew the right solution for a problem. And the decision handed to you wasn’t the best. But you had to do it.
Because it was forced into you from the business side.
And your position was at risk if you couldn’t ship a shitty code to production.
Because why? Because developers are seen as developers.
The medicine
If we are tools, how can we become a better one? The answer is simple: Become a consultant.
A consultant is a tool. But a tool that makes the business people’s eye shine.
Why? They don’t understand how a product is made. So they hire a consultant to tell them what has to be done. And then, the developer makes what the consultant say so.
Becoming a consultant makes you sell your ideia. And that’s the job of a consultant. Sell the ideia. Nothing more.
Sell the ideia
Business people are like the Earth. The Sun is the idea. They surround the ideia. They want an ideia that’s going to be cheap and give them tons os money. If the ideia gives them what they want, they’ll take it.
To become a better tool, a.k.a a “consultant” you could be the consultant and their developers make the product. Or you could have other developers with you to help sell and build the ideia.
Be like an startup. Sell the ideia. Startups are consultancy agencies. They have to keep working on the product to make their clients happy and recommend it to their friends.
However, just remember to sell the ideia. You’ll become a more valuable tool
