Being a Professional

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Alfredo Scaini

What is a true professional? Is it someone that knows his/her stuff inside and out; someone that is 100% client focused; someone who is always organized; or, someone who gets everything – down to the last pixel – perfect?

Well, being a true professional is a combination of a lot of things, but the biggest thing is to be confident in yourself, honest, and service oriented.

Be Confident In Yourself

Know Your Stuff

No matter what your profession, you should know your stuff and know it well. How well? Well enough to do your job confidently without any big surprises.

This is different from being a guru.

A guru is a person who knows everything on their subject matter. They are the ones that can update the actual innards of the library files without a second thought. Most of us are not gurus. For example, I may use cURL in my work, but I have no idea about the inner workings of the library. I know what I need to input into it and what it will output back to me and how I can use that output to do what I need.

It’s okay not to be a guru, but you do need to know how to use the language effectively and efficiently.

Keep on Practicing and Learning

The best way to be confident in your abilities and to stay on top of change is to keep on learning about your subject matter and developing as a programmer. This means more than just reading up on the latest trends – you should really be practicing what you learn.

There’s nothing like a bunch of bugs that crop up when you’re coding something new to really make you “experience” the new material and get a feel for it. Bugs are your friends when coding – as you fix them you get to see how something works.

Expand Your Knowledge

In addition to your area of expertise, look at other, related areas and get an understanding of those areas. Even if it doesn’t directly relate to your job, it will help you better relate to those whose job it is and will help you better interact with them and see things from their point of view.

Stay Calm

Ever get in those situations where you realize that something very bad has happened in your application and production data is getting corrupted or being lost. If you have, then you know how nerve racking and scary this is.

How you carry yourself when the world is falling apart is important – not just for your sanity, but for the sanity of your coworkers and your clients. When things are happening and decisions need to be made now, stay calm and steady. This incident will eventually pass, but how you handled it will be remembered by those around you.

Be Honest

Acknowledge Your Strengths and Weaknesses

If you’re not very good at staying organized, or not particularly diplomatic when interacting with others, don’t brush this off as something that’s not important – it is to someone.

By acknowledging that you have areas where you could improve is a great first step. We all have areas where we can improve on. Taking the time and making the effort to improve in these areas is the next step. Remember that professionalism isn’t just how you define it – it’s how others perceive it of you.

Admit To Your Mistakes

We all make mistakes. It’s okay to make mistakes. It’s not okay to lie about it or keep a client in the dark though.

One of the things about being a professional is to be able to admit when you’re wrong and change course in the right direction. It’s also important to keep a client informed of both the good and the bad when that bad affects their site.

For example, a few years back I was updating a production application, but there was a problem with one of the templates which caused the screen to go blank. Once it was noticed I immediately rolled the change back and started looking for what happened (turned out I messed up and didn’t change a variable in the configuration file), fixed it and implemented the updates. Even though the screen was blank for about 2 minutes I still mentioned it in my report to the client, letting them know what happened, why and the length of time the application was down.

Being honest and keeping clients informed is, in my experience, the best way to build trust between yourself and a client. They need someone that will be straight with them and let them know what’s really going on.

Provide and Receive Constructive Criticism

Too many times people don’t say what’s on their mind even though they see holes in a proposal – either because of fear for hurting the other person’s feelings; or, because they don’t want to get involved.

Being a professional means that you are willing to discuss different viewpoints in a diplomatic and tactful way. You’re willing to ask questions and point out possible pitfalls to a proposal. Remember, the goal of your job is to participate in successful projects – this is why you’re being paid.

Being professional also means being able to accept constructive criticism and to consider the suggestions made by your peers. While some people may have hidden agendas, most are on the up and up and want the same thing you do – a successful project.

Be Service Oriented

Communicate Effectively

Not just with clients, but with peers as well. Communication is so important in building a solid foundation of trust. When you’re working with a client or a co-worker, be sure to communicate your thoughts professionally and with tact.

Go Beyond What’s Expected

Have to generate a report on some data mining? Why not take the time to review the results and break it up in an easy to consume way while your at it? Help makes the lives of other people easier by providing them with work that goes above what they expect. These are your clients or co-workers – they deserve the best you can provide them.

Follow Up With People

One of the worst things people can do is never answer your email. You end up feeling that they’re ignoring you or brushing you aside because your email is not as important to them as other emails.

Don’t be one of those people.

Always reply to an email and follow up when a request has been made of you. Even if it’s a short, “Thanks Tom – I received your email, but unfortunately I won’t be able to get back to you on this issue until next Monday” – At least Tom knows you’re not ignoring him.

Use the Spell Checker!!

Arghh!!! One more thing on emails. Take enough time to write them up properly. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to read an email that looks like the person was half asleep when they wrote it.

Be clear in your message, tactful in your delivery and for heaven’s sake … please check your spelling before you click "send".