I work with a really great engineer named Simon. He takes complicated problems and designs simple solutions. His code is clean, easy to follow, and just plain works. And I almost didn’t realize it because he doesn’t brag enough.
Bragging makes your work better for two reasons. You will make your code better so you have something to brag about and talking about what you are working on gives the rest of your team a chance to see it and help you make it better.
Not bragging enough is a very common problem for engineers. If you have ever given your status as, “um… I wrote some code” then you probably need to brag more. Bragging is a good thing, as long as you brag about something that you are passionate about.
My theory is that most people don’t brag out of fear. Nobody wants to be seen bragging about something stupid. It’s a legitimate fear. If your status is “today I figured out how to make my editor save a file” then you will look like you are bragging without a cause.
I love it when someone comes to my team meeting enthusiastic about the great way they solved a problem. Even if the solution isn’t great. When an engineer is excited about their work, making the code better is the easy part.
When you brag more you will try to make work worth bragging about. Bragging helps you get excited about your work. Giving every status report as “fixed bugs” wears you down. Find something you are proud of and show off.
Call to action: find some work you like and brag about it in your next team meeting. Tell people why it is good and why they should care. Get excited. And comment back here to let us know how it went.