Leading and retaining developers

It is clear how hard companies struggle to retain software engineers, developers, data scientists and other technology professionals. They try to make the work environment as cool as possible, placing, inside the office, a popcorn machine, various snacks, minibar with beer and soft drinks, ping-pong table, video games, puffs and even offering to pay for technology, English, access courses to Netflix, Spotify and several other attractive benefits.

And will all this effort be rewarded? Can you really retain your technology team? There is data that proves that, despite these incredible benefits and playground-like offices, technology companies are unable to retain their technology professionals. There are always developers leaving to start a new journey in another company and that's how new people come in.

You may not expect it, but giant companies in the sector, such as those on the Fortune 500 list, also tend to suffer from high turnover rates. Google, for example, has an average professional tenure in the group of 1.1 years and many developers dream of working at Google. At Amazon, this “time spent working” is just one year. Apple has the best turnover indicator among technology companies, with only two years of tenure. We can see details of this information with the Payscale employee turnover report and the LinkedIn report that reveals that the technology sector is the one with the most professional turnover. But why this high turnover?

I don't know the answer, but I believe that factors such as the high demand for technology jobs with high salaries and the interest of young professionals in different technical challenges and new work environments justify part of this “transit”. The search for companies that are aligned with your personal values ​​and that like change can also justify this movement of young professionals into the workforce of technology companies.

Every entrepreneur and manager knows how bad the high turnover of professionals is for the company. They spend time and resources finding/hiring, then training, and it takes time for the new employee to actually deliver the value expected by the company. This turnover is difficult to control, but good leadership is crucial to helping retain talent. Here are some tips that I learned in practice, working in various places, building my own company, reading many books and learning from great leaders:

"I believe that good leadership can help creative people stay on the path to excellence, no matter what business they are in." - Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar and president of Walt Disney Animation Studios

1. Give autonomy to your team members

Many managers tend to centralize everything within themselves, wanting them to do it their way. Don't make that mistake. Believe in your team's potential, give them autonomy to choose the best solution for something and solve problems.

"I believe managers should loosen controls, not tighten them. They should accept risks; they should trust the people they work with and fight to pave the way for them; and they should always pay attention and confront anything that generate fear. Furthermore, successful leaders accept the reality that their models may be wrong or incomplete. Only when we admit we don't know something can we learn." - Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar and president of Walt Disney Animation Studios

1. Don't impose, make them question

When you give your team members the freedom to think about the best solution to a problem or make suggestions about something. If a solution or suggestion does not make sense in your view and you think it is better not to do it the way suggested, then simply do not impose something, make him reflect on the decision, raise arguments as to why you think it is not the best choice and make it -o interact and think about this solution. If the argument you give actually makes sense, chances are he'll start to agree with you.

Many say that Steve Jobs liked and listened more to those who defended his ideas, as he believed that if someone defended something so strongly it was because they really had a strong foundation about it. So don't think it's bad if someone defends your idea. Listen and try to understand too, maybe it's a much better solution.

1. Leaders create leaders

Help employees grow professionally and as a person. Create a culture where the goal is for everyone to grow and help each other. This attitude will form a network of leaders in your company, each of whom will form new leaders. If this happens, your work environment will certainly improve.

1. Create self-managing Squads, without defining a leader

Follow agile development principles. Create small teams with complementary profiles (instead of defining a leader) and set goals for this squad. Over time, this squad will form a leader organically and will guide everyone towards the same goal. A leader is created by examples and not by titles. Whoever sets the best example and is best at serving, the team will follow. We can observe that, when we have to do group work, a leader always emerges, even when it comes to children. In a group of animals, a leader also emerges organically. This is nature.

"It's easy to say you want talented people, but the way they interact with each other is key. Even the smartest people can form an ineffective team if they are incompatible. That means it's best to focus on how a team is performing, not on the talents of its members. A good team is made up of people who complement each other." - Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar and president of Walt Disney Animation Studios

1. People like recognition

Show each member of your team that they are important, and that they belong to the team because you believe in their potential. Sometimes there is no need to speak, just with small gestures, this belonging will be implied. Simple gestures, such as listening to people and including them in important decisions, help with this challenge.

When you recognize a skill in a person, it makes them feel good about themselves. As a result, this will make her like you and improve the work environment, as people will work happily and motivated, transmitting this energy to other members of the company.

1. Developers like technical challenges

To date, I haven't met any technology professional who doesn't like technical challenges. If you find someone you don't like, they probably don't like the area (laughs). Everyone likes to surpass themselves and learn more. I like to say that a technical challenge is like doing a puzzle: if you try to do an easy puzzle, you'll get bored. But if it's difficult, and you'll have to think a lot, then this challenge will hold you back and you'll probably spend nights trying to solve it or sleep thinking about it.

Being in a technically challenging mood is very similar to the state of flow, which is that state in which we are extremely focused and motivated, we spend hours doing something and don't notice time passing.

1. Give your team freedom and remember that everyone has a personal life

Give freedom to your team, such as:

• Work at whatever time she thinks is best, there are always times when everyone can perform better. Obviously without being out of line with the rest of the team.
• Work from wherever she wants, wherever she feels best, whether in a specific place or with someone she has more affinity with.
• Freedom to choose the date of your vacation. Obviously, without disturbing the progress of any project.

I created these tips based on what I read a lot and what I experienced in practice. I worked at some companies as a developer, which gave me complete freedom of work, greater technical challenges and recognition. And others that gave practically none of the points I mentioned. Particularly, in the ones that gave me this freedom, I worked with much more pleasure, always producing more than what was asked and I felt completely happy. This happiness was like fuel to work harder and with greater efficiency and effectiveness. I even turned down invitations from companies that offered me a much higher salary.

When I set up my technology company, I kept in mind that I would try to create a pleasant environment. Therefore, as new developers entered, I applied these lessons and, as a result of this attitude, I was seeing developers who were similar to me at the time and as motivated as I was in this company with a pleasant environment. Everyone involved in a greater cause, always delivered more than we asked for, gave several incredible suggestions that we started to use and ended up creating an environment of total knowledge sharing, one passing on content to others. It was incredible to see this happening in practice.

I hope you enjoyed it!

Hugs,
Vitor Braggion

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Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vitorbrangioni/
GitHub: https://github.com/VitorBrangioni

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