New Programmer's Survival Manual

Chapter 4Teamwork

Some programmers are successful as a one-person company. The vast majority of us, however, need to play nice with others.

Much of what you’ll do in the professional world requires interacting regularly with others. The introverted programmer might rather hole up in their cube and write code instead. However, your ability to interact effectively can accelerate—or limit—the coolness of the code you get to hole up with.

These “soft skills” aren’t what programmers are known for, and this chapter won’t make you a Dale Carnegie.^[35] Instead, it’s focused on hitting the high points of appreciating people’s personality traits and how they interact in professional contexts.

The golden rule “Do to others what you ...