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Next up on my programming tips series we have another guest post. This one is written by Dordea Cosmin.

There are a lot of things that can make you a better programmer, but unless you are a freelancer , coding skills are not enough to succeed in a company. Probably you already saw a lot of post about how people administrate&motivate their programmers but ,still , those articles were written by managers who were maybe once programmers. and there is always more about this outside the manager’s office. I want to share some tips on how can you become a better and more efficient team player within a company.

1. Diplomacy

Supposing you are in a new company or team, and you were added on a ongoing project with some other fellow programmers. Suppose the project is a mess for your standards. No matter what , never ever criticize it ,on an ongoing basis, in front of the other programmers or the person who has the lead on that project. Programmers are proud , no matter their level. In the worst case they will fear they are obsolete and fear for their jobs and you will become a threat for them and they will not trust you. Same goes for the person who has the lead on the project.(Fear is the mind killer - Dune). I know at a new job probably you want to show how good you are as fast as possible , but be careful not to hurt some other people feelings. Instead , just take is step by step and gain their trust by slowly introducing your solution(s).

This way you also gain their trust and they will come at you when they have problems. You don\’t want a person you technically respect to come at you and trash you because you don’t do things the proper way, right?

2. Your boss is not your friend

This does not mean that you should avoid your boss, instead it means that at work, he is your boss. If you get to friendly, you may find yourself do a lot of overtime caused by some greedy management , not because you fear for you job , but because you don’t want to disappoint your friend friend . My point is business is business, it’s nice to socialize, but you work to gain a living not friends. And anyway , extended overtime is the sign that something is wrong with the project, it’s not your fault anyway. ( I am assuming a basic level of skill here, if no matter the project you can not finish simple tasks and do overtime , quit and start fishing).

3. Be friendly(at some extent)

Always greet people , eat together with them if you can, so that people know you and understand what you are capable of. Try to socialize as much as you can, but don’t put your personal life on the table as nobody actually cares and probably they will avoid you. People want to relax, not to discuss personal problems. This does not stop to your department. You may find that departments like human resources can greatly ease your life if you socialize with them .

4. If you agree on something, it’s your fault

Whenever you agree on a task something, don’t come in the last day and say I can’t do it or I need more time.

No matter what happens , it’s your fault and if you repeat this , you will become an unreliable person. Accept defeat , but from time. You should be able to announce from time that you need more time (it’s no shame) so that managers can take this in considerations , as your keyboard is the smallest place in the programming world. This will bring you more benefits than always finishing , but 1 day after.

5. Education

No matter your level , you always have to learn new things , or else , someday , you will see your self in the ”Diplomacy” situation. No matter what your fellows programmer shape is , you should always learn new things and see what the trend is , because if you rely only on your experience , you will become obsolete at some point. Even if you find nothing new to learn in php ,look at java ruby or python frameworks or whatever and learn new tricks ( like most of nowadays php frameworks do , which is a good thing)

6. Fixed or Complete

Your task is finished or your bug is fixed when the tester/manager/client says so. Don’t argue about this and don’t say ’Oh , that’s because …’ , ’That’s not such a big deal ’ , ’Person X did it!’ unless you are asked about it. Do your job.

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If you have any programming tips that you would like to share with my readers please send them in via my contact form. I will be picking a ‘best tip’ which will be rewarded with a license for Zend Studio Professional.