‘You get what you give’

This is a guest post from Rylan Bowers. Enjoy.

Dear New Developer,

‘You get what you give’ isn’t just a late ’90s catchy pop song set in a late ’90s mall that gives me late ’90s cringe (and nostalgia, but those go hand-in-hand, eh?). It’s also a great way to approach your career! This is something core to the tech scene I’ve adopted in Boulder, Colorado as codified by Techstars with their Give First rule in their Code of Conduct. Their other rules are great ones to build your career around, too.

I have found that giving provides many benefits to the giver:

1. Offering to help engenders a greater sense of observation and consideration of others’ needs and feelings. This is something we all can work on, given our reputation as social introverts.
2. It feels good to help others with no strings attached.
3. If you want to attach (small) strings for your own motivation, you increase how others view you in a positive light.
4. You may/likely will find rewarding hobbies, coding interests, or other intrinsic rewards without much effort.
5. You become less arrogant.
6. You help build your community in a positive way, no matter how small the give is.
7. People are quicker to recommend you for a job or position if you ever fall on harder times.
8. It improves your own sense of self-worth and confidence.
9. You make more friends outside of work.
10. Did I mention that it just feels good?

My one caveat: There are always people who will take advantage, do try to be open-minded and kind, but watch out for takers, they will burn you out! Thankfully, they are few and far between.

Another great example of this is Jason Cole’s “Year of Giving Dangerously”. I must add that this way of living is out of reach for you as a new developer, but something to keep in mind for over the course of your career. Give in small ways until you can give in bigger ways!

Also, be aware that being seen as only a taker is not a good thing. See my caveat above and think back on any time in your life that you’ve ran into one. Maybe someone who always wanted to copy your answers or homework, but never contributed? Or those group projects where you felt like you were doing all the work? Don’t be a taker.

Volunteer in your community. Be the good you want to see in the world.

– Rylan

Rylan Bowers is a developer, co-organizer of Boulder Startup Week and the Boulder Ruby Meetup, and all around good guy. Follow him on Twitter.