I’m the Problem. It’s Me. A Software Developer Anti-Hero
Photo by Daniel Jensen on Unsplash
The Secret Developer is starting to spiral out of control at work. It’s becoming an issue of not just the environment around them but their behavior and the way they work.
“Something has to change. I think the team will actually change me. At what point am I going to change myself?”
Don’t worry, at the end of this rant, there will be a set of steps we can follow to avoid being like The Secret Developer and become a productive member of a team.
The Evidence It’s Everyone Else
Proactive
Tickets are changed during development. Recently The Secret Developer spoke to their Tech Lead about this (through their Scrum Master) but nothing changed. Essentially before a sprint The Secret Developer asked for information to be in place for the committed tickets yet midway through the sprint, this was not as promised.
Nobody is interested in the product
Most companies like dogfooding and people working on software to be customers of the product they work on. At my place, nobody used our software despite it being a contractual obligation for staff.
The Evidence That The Secret Developer is at fault
The Superiority Complex
The Secret Developer seems to think that they are “the best” developer in the room. That they don’t make mistakes.
This probably gives the reason why people in working contexts treat The Secret Developer in ways that might not be ideal.
But I am the best?
The Poor Behavior
In meetings, The Secret developer does make it clear that they disagree with some decisions. At times The Secret Developer lets it be known that they think that their colleagues are not up to the standard that they expect. When colleagues hear that you’re judging them, they will almost certainly remember this information for later use — against The Secret Developer.
It’s not my fault they are useless.
Lack of cooperation
When solutions are mooted which, The Secret Developer does not entirely agree with they sometimes react with silence. At other times The Secret Developer asks a question — “why”- with the sole intention of making the solution more difficult to implement.
If it’s wrong, why do it?
Giving up
At times it does seem that The Secret Developer has given up. They make this clear with their “depressed” voice at work. Negativity in stand-up meetings? It’s all on show visible for all to see.
“I hate it. I don’t care who knows”
Negative Competitiveness
The Secret Developer often rushes work with the sole goal of trying to “beat” other developers at work. That is, they don’t help others by trying to produce work faster than others. Without cooperation, software development becomes difficult as it is at its core a team activity.
“I want to measure my greatness”
It is fine to be competitive and to try to be ‘better’ than others but it cannot be allowed to take place at the expense of teamwork that simply needs to stop.
What might happen
They Might Fire The Secret Developer
It appears that this will not happen due to the lack of management oversight.
“They literally don’t care. If they don’t notice when I’m off sick, why would they notice that I’m deeply unhappy?”
This is devastating for a company to think about. Surely companies should notice when employees are not performing to their potential, and deal with that.
The Secret Developer Does Nothing
The Secret Developer continues to get their paycheck and sits getting the cash. Keeps their mouth shut.
The Secret Developer Leaves
Probably the best solution all around. The Secret Developer leaves and everyone moves on with their lives.
Proactive Steps To Take
There are obvious things that need to happen here.
The management:
Need to speak to the secret developer and work on their (poor) performance
Build a relationship with the employee to get a better outcome for the team
The developer:
Needs to look for a new job. Put behind them the current situation and how they can be a positive person and code well in a new context
Conclusion
In the end, it doesn’t matter whose ‘fault’ it is that a relationship isn’t working. It is time for either party to call time on the working relationship and for everyone to go their separate ways.
“You know what. I would fire The Secret Developer”