Do Developers Need to Brown-Nose To Advance Career?

Ouch.

That was probably the least flattering thing I had been called. Maybe even worse than being called an idiot.

I’m sure any developer would have done the same thing. Actually, maybe not. But they should! I’ll let you be the judge.

Here’s what happened. I had just returned from a meeting with the CIO. Yep, a little ‘ol developer like me had requested a face-to-face with the big dog. I found over the years that it is so true that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Therefore, I went out of my way to be squeaky.

I had a few years of coding under my belt and was just starting to take some graduate classes. One of the hot topics in class was telecommuting – especially for technology workers.

I thought “Gee, why shouldn’t every developer be able to telecommute?”

So I emailed the CIO directly and just like that I had my meeting scheduled – just that simple. You’d think the CIO gets tons of emails from employees with suggestions. I have found that is not the case. And that doesn’t just apply to the CIO, but also to others in management.

At my meeting, I used my full allotment of time to explain why telecommuting would give the company a competitive advantage and how we could avoid the downsides of too much goofing off at home. The CIO was impressed with my preparation and asked me to write a report on it to present to the management team.

Yay! I was excited. So when I came back to my cubicle, I couldn’t wait to tell everyone. I mean, they could be no less than thrilled that I was pushing forward such a great perk that would benefit us all.

That’s when I learned that while it is true that speaking out and coming up with ideas are typically welcomed by managers, it is also true that these actions can be perceived by co-workers as being overly obsequious (i.e. too much sucking up to the boss).

Everyone’s comments ranged from “Admit it. You’re just trying to get noticed,” to “Remember us little guys when you get the big promotion.” And of course, the infamous “brown-nose” comment that many people get labeled with when they go out of their way to improve an organization.

(I must admit the definition of this term is quite humorous, but I digress…)

Sorry, but I don’t see it that way at all. If you have a great idea, why keep it to yourself? Some developers have told me that it’s their job to write code, not to propose methods for fixing the organization.

So it’s okay to suggest a way to code better, but not work better? Really?

To me that line of thinking belittles developers. If an organization is going to improve, ideas need to come from everyone. Of course you can’t spend all your time idea mongering, but as long as your development work is being performed well, why not use your brain to noodle on different and new ideas? And then share those ideas!

Ah, but then you may open yourself to the same accusations of having ulterior, self-serving motives. But guess what?

Who cares!

Because even if speaking up with fresh approaches is self-serving and helps you climb the career ladder faster, what does it matter if you are improving the organization?

True, if you’re truly sucking up just to get your name and face in front of management, then your scheming will be smelled a mile away. Your ideas must have value or you’re just making a fool of yourself and wasting everyone’s time.

The “Fool” Aspect

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