4 Coffee Chats 4 Lessons

In the past month, I’ve had the amazing opportunity to chat with tech professionals working in the open-source space.

I picked up several insightful nuggets I’d like to share with you.

Lesson 1: On Imposter Syndrome

The first insight was from Victor Ndaba, Software Engineer at Jumba. Victor talked about his experience speaking at developer conferences at the start of his career, which I found very intriguing. Imposter syndrome would stop most of us at that stage of our journeys, but Victor? This is what he had to say:

Imposter syndrome is a symptom of learning not a syndrome.

Dare to be brave and put yourself out there despite it all.

Lesson 2: On Networking

The second insight came from Samuel Iglesias, Partner at Igalia. Samuel discussed networking and growing your connections as a job strategy. He emphasized that your network can open up opportunities you would have never known existed and that the trust factor of a referral carries a lot of weight.

The important part of a conference is the people attending the conference

Always attend the “Hallway track” at conferences and make connections.

Lesson 3: On Asking for Help

This one was from Lauralyn Watson, Software Engineer at Wikimedia. Lauralyn discussed being visible in your work and the importance of alerting your team when you get stuck, especially if you are new.

Ask early and ask as soon as possible

Take away? Don’t be afraid to ask because they are no stupid questions.

Lesson 4: On Creative Exploration

This insight came from Jonny Summers, Product Design at Supabase. Jonny discussed the portability of design systems and components, acquiring a good sense of taste in products, and the importance of flexibility as a tool for creative exploration.

You should own the code and you should be able to do whatever you want with it

Nothing kills creativity like too much rigidity. I’m glad we agreed that design should be way closer to the code.