Level Up Your Impact: Be an Influential Software Engineer (Without Authority)

Key Takeaways

everyone welcome back to the channel today we're diving into the world of influence for software Engineers this is something that we get asked all the time everybody wants some kind of influence to degree because you know influence isn't about bossing people around but it's about getting people on board with your ideas and all software Engineers whether you're a junior engineer or a senior engineer or even a manager or leader everybody needs some influence now why is it that we all need influence well senior Engineers Maybe want to influence company directions or technical choices and even as a junior engineer if you're looking for a job you're trying to influence the hiring managers and maybe it is that you want a raise or promotion or simply maybe you just want to be respected and recognized for the hard work that you're putting in as a software engineer and if you've ever felt unheard we have probably all been there at one point or another this video is really for you by the way if you're new here I'm Jean your trusted engineering mentor I've been an early engineer at whatsapp before the19 billion acquisition by Facebook now meta in this video we're going to talk about the building blocks of influence which are credibility and likability these are like the key ingredients that forms influence together there's often some confusion about these two words so let's define it first first is credibility and according to the dictionary this means being trusted and believed in so think of this as your reputation to degree it is about how other people view your work now likeability is a little bit fuzzier but the dictionary definition is having qualities that bring about a favorable regard so what does that mean it's easier when you look up the anonym which is the opposite word you get words like repellent disagreeable irritable sickening these are really easy to understand right if you think of someone and you feel irritable and sicken that's the wrong direction and we can consider some examples when you think of an influential person in tag who do you think of people often would say Steve Jobs I think most people would agree that Steve Jobs was an influential person especially in Tech he was super smart but he was Notorious for being a bit of a jerk some people like to argue that likeability is not important and use Steve Jobs as an example well it's not untrue if you have a lot of credibility yes you can get away with lack of likeability to a degree but you better be Steve Jobs good right like you better have a lot of credibility to make up for the lack of likability on the other hand if you're only likable and have absolutely no credibility it's going to be a little bit more difficult for you to become a leader you might be able to tag along with other people but it's going to be hard to really be in a leadership position but but I'm sure you can think of real life people in your life like that manager who doesn't seem to really know what he's doing but has a lot of influence for some reason let's look at another example a fictional character this time anybody A Game of Thrones band I have seen all of the seasons multiple times you can think of the Lannister family they are very powerful and they have a lot of resources they have a reputation which is like your credibility A Lannister Always Pays His death right that is the ultimate credibility that they use over and over they're experts on the subject matter of wars and trade they have the authority as the queen or the Lord and they have longlasting relationships with other powerful families plus they're also really good at providing incentives like money title land they're really good at understanding what the other person is looking for or needing and offering it to them so it's definitely a combination and ideally you would have a good balance between the two qualities so now let's break them down even further and understand how you can get them if you break down credibility more it comes down to a few things like Authority commitment and consistency first Authority according to the dictionary is the power to give orders or make decisions and it's not just about having the title to do so it's about building a strong Foundation I have three tips for building authority number one is to be accurate don't be sloppy you want to deliver quality work but we're all human beings and it's understandable to make mistakes if you do it's okay own up to it and fix it offer a solution to take care of your mistakes I mean obviously it's better if you can catch your own mistakes before you show it to other people but in case you do take responsibility for it number two is solve don't just complain criticizing alone really doesn't work if you don't like something contribute ideas and solutions otherwise you're just complaining and that doesn't really help anyone number three is boosting visibility but unfortunately this one is not a one-size fit all type of solution so common recommendations would be to speak at a conference or write blogs which I'm not necessarily a fan of for example let's say you have 100K following on a Twitter does it mean that you have authority as a software engineer not necessarily that just means that you know how to write tweets it doesn't necessarily mean that you know how to code so it could help maybe if you are in an outward facing role like a salesperson or maybe you work for a B2B company maybe you want to work at Twitter and it means that you understand the Twitter as a product it depends on the type of work you do and what your goals are there are many ways to build and boost your visibility and to shine but what works for you in your context may be different this is a bigger topic that I can talk about for hours so if you have any questions about how to boost your visibility effectively you can ask me in the comments and I'll try to answer or make a longer video about it in the future so back to my list the next item is commitment as you think about trying to build more Authority there is a danger of overc committing yourself to things that can actually hurt your credibility saying yes to everything can spread you thin making it challenging to deliver Excellence consistently you want to be known for fulfilling every single commitment that you make so it's okay to say no more than you say yes and that's also related to the next item consistency consistently delivering on time builds to your trust and credibility so communicate if you can't meet a deadline and work on finding Alternatives again make suggestions and find the middle ground but you want to maintain credibility in a combination of accuracy commitment taking responsibility and being consistent and ideally you want to mix up all of these different ingredients to gain Authority now let's go into likeability like I said earlier this is a little bit more nuanced but here are some ingredients two building likeability and number one is social proof if others see you positively it does influence how you are perceived right let's say you're new to a company and everybody you talk to says Peter is so great he is an amazing engineer you're likely going to pay more attention to whatever Peter says and it may take some time for you to build up this type of social proof especially if you're new in your career but you can do it this just takes a little B bit of time and again everything I mentioned in the credibility section will translate to building your social proof number two is to give more than you take building a positive reputation is about giving first and being genuine about it so remember those people who always seem to take more than they give they might get away with it initially or in the short term but in the long run trust will crumble and their influence will have limits I like to think of it as like a bank account you want to be doing a lot of deposits to build trust instead of just taking money out and depleting your bank account so at work you want to be making those deposits by initiating conversations you know don't wait for other people to reach out to you first show genuine interest in your colleagues and their work life and show Kindness Small gestures like offering help or remembering birthdays or simply saying good morning can go a long way number three is asking questions and actively listening humans are wired for connection and the key lies in asking questions and truly listening so first start by asking insightful questions go beyond yes and no questions dig a Little Deeper to understand their thoughts their feelings and perspectives and then actively listen not just wait for your turn to talk right A lot of people do that when someone else is talking you're just thinking about what am I going to say next right don't do that make eye contact nod show genuine interest in other people's words TR to also discover shared passion or interest find that common ground for example if I meet someone who likes books or spreadsheets I feel a quick connection like we're friends and everybody has something they're interested in ask questions to find out do you both love cooking or hiking or Star Wars or Game of Thrones whatever it may be every conversation is is an opportunity to build Bridges and by asking these thoughtful questions and being a good listener you can build deeper connections build trust and create a more positive and collaborative environment think of influence like a sandwich it's about creating a mix of ingredients that work for different situations right you can toas your bread or not you can add ham or turkey or you can make it vegetarian but the ideal mix can be different for different people or different situation and just like that your mix of elements like credibility Authority expertise and likeability can all come together in different ways to make your influence sandwich more desirable and effective for different situations if you found this video helpful please give it a thumbs up next week I want to talk more about the fstep framework that we can use to take concrete steps so stay in tuned but meanwhile if you want to learn more about the seven mistakes causing your growth as a software engineer watch this video otherwise this is the video that YouTube thinks you should watch next I'll see you in the next one