Professional Development – 2023 – Week 1

Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/54585499@N04/

.NET

When readonly Isn’t’ readonly in C# (via Nick Chapsas)

  • You can get around an IReadOnlyList<T> by casting it to a List<T>
  • The .AsReadOnly() extension method is preferred, but note that it will get updated if the underlying mutable collection changes
  • ReadOnlyCollection<T> is the most safe because you can’t cast it back into the original mutable type without a runtime exception

Business

How to Motivate a Top Performer — When You Can’t Promote Them (via HBR)

This boils down to understanding what the employee desires, given there may be business constraints about why a promotion can’t happen.

Research: Where Managers and Employees Disagree About Remote Work (via HBR)

This article presents research about what employees and managers think about remote work. On one hand I can see the author’s perspective on his advice: Have anchor days where people must be in the office, and encourage them to stay home on non-anchor days. It’s a clear boundary. However, my style is more about coming into the office if it helps you be more productive; each employee knows their own needs and working styles best.

How Roadmaps Accidentally Make Teams Powerless (via SWLW)

  1. The top secret roadmap
  2. More features is all that matters
  3. No room for collaboration
  4. Unrelated to strategy

Career

5 Reasons to Leave Your Job — Even in a Downturn (via HBR)

  1. The environment is toxic
  2. Your values are being violated
  3. Your skills aren’t being used and developed
  4. You’re not given opportunities to be visible
  5. You’re feeling low energy

Metrics

Measuring an engineering organization. (via SWLW)

Although this post is a bit dense, it covers various kinds of metrics and behaviors — some useful, some not so useful. It feels like the intended audience is director/VP level folks.

Process

How a Habit of Self-reflection Could Improve Your Career (via TED)

As the speaker mentioned, this isn’t just about career — it’s about life. I value journaling, weekly reflections of accomplishments and setbacks, and yearly reviews. Feedback from others and ourselves is how we grow.

Psychology

Are Our Brains Wired to Quiet Quitting? (via HBR)

“Remember that quiet quitting happens when employees feel trapped. The more freedom you can give them, the less they’ll feel the need to respond in unproductive ways.”