In episode 28, Jamison and Dave answer these questions:

How long should I stay before I quit my job?

• Two to three years seems fairly normal.
• Dave sees people with less than 12 months regularly.
• Staying at a job means you experience things you wouldn’t if you hopped around a lot.
• It is much easier to see the hype cycle play out if you stick around.
• You get to see the outcome of your own decisions.
• Quitting usually == raise.
• Chronic job hopping might result in a reputation of not sticking with things.
• Dave thinks you should quit your first job after 18 months because of the Monty Hall problem

How do you encourage junior developers to improve?

• We assume that these junior developers really want to improve.
• Make it clear that people get stuck and struggle, and that is normal.
• Make it clear that you don’t want them to get too stuck.
• Make it OK to ask questions.
• People generally live up or down to your expectations, so help them feel trusted and that you expect they will be great.
• Make the outcome of their work clear.

In episode 27, Jamison and Dave answer these questions:

How do I write a great resume?

• Do you really need a resume these days?
• How important is formatting and good design?
• What content should be on your resume?

Should I push back on non-engineering tasks like PowerPoint presentations?

From listener samspot: I am a Sr. Developer and I am often asked to spend time on PowerPoint presentations for funding and other business stuff. I want to ask why the managers, analysts, etc can’t handle these tasks. I find them to be a frequent distraction from my actual responsibilities, especially because these are so frequently “emergency” requests. Should I push back on this work, or is it better to be a team player?

In episode 26, Jamison and Dave answer these question:

How do you make sure people know about your good work?

See Matt Zabriskie’s great post for background on this.

We also mentioned Do Things, Write About It.

How do you get your point across effectively so you don’t have to say “I told you so” later?