10 Tips on Professionalism
Top 10 Tips for Millennials and Early Career Professionals
Tip 1: Build Your Reputation
We often hear, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know…” It’s also who knows you and what you’re known for. Consciously develop your reputation.
In dev work, your reputation is built through code quality, commit history, and how you show up in PRs and code reviews — your GitHub profile is often the first thing a future employer sees.
It’s also about how you work with your teammates. If you say you’re going to do something, follow through. If you can’t, say so — being upfront when you’re stuck or behind builds more trust than going quiet.
Tip 2: Manage Your Personal Brand
Be conscious of the brand/image you’re building every day.
As a developer, this includes your code style, commit messages, PR descriptions, and how you communicate on Slack — people form impressions from these long before they meet you.
Tip 3: Invest in Key Skills
Invest in learning how to:
- Manage a project
- Lead a meeting well
- Speak confidently
- Write well
- Develop polished deliverables
For engineers, this also means: writing clear technical documentation, debugging systematically, and giving realistic estimates.
Tip 4: Show Leadership
Don’t be afraid to show leadership in any situation: Go First.
At ACA, we love to Optimize for the Team. Work as part of a whole, even if you don’t have all the answers — be willing to try, pair with someone who’s stuck, propose a solution, or flag a bug before being asked.
Tip 5: Ask Questions
Don’t be afraid to ask clarifying questions! There really is no such thing as a dumb question.
Asking “why” before you start coding saves hours of rework later.
Tip 6: Know When to Move On
Learn to move on when necessary: Ignore what they say, watch what they do.
If a teammate says they’ll review your PR “right away” but it sits for days, don’t take it personally — follow up and keep moving.
Tip 7: Don’t Obsess Over Weaknesses
Don’t obsess over your weaknesses year after year!
If you’re weaker at, say, frontend than backend, focus on your strengths while getting just good enough at the rest.
Tip 8: Communicate in Their Style
Develop a habit to communicate with others in their communication style.
Some teammates prefer detailed Slack messages; others prefer a quick call — pay attention and adapt.
Tip 9: Avoid Being High-Maintenance
Don’t be high maintenance! No one wants to work with high-maintenance people!
Before asking for help, try debugging it yourself first, document what you’ve tried, and ask a specific question rather than “it’s broken.”
Tip 10: Build Broad Networks
Build broad networks.
Attend meetups, contribute to open source, and engage with developer communities — these connections often lead to mentorship and opportunities.