Enthusiasm
I wrote the following piece four years ago while in my first job at Freddie Mac. The piece is advice I would give graduating college students in their first technology jobs.
Enthusiasm
Get excited about everything you do. Every job is an opportunity to become better. A manual maintenance task on a legacy system is a chance to help your colleagues by creating an automated fix. Simple programming assignments are an opportunity to learn how to rigorously unit test your solutions. If you work that hard on simple tasks your colleagues will want to work with you on harder challenges.
Enthusiasm is contagious but it is rarely found in the business world. Many of your coworkers are jaded by bad experiences and poor career choices. If you are seen by your colleagues as someone who takes pleasure in working hard and enjoys every day despite its numerous challenges, people will be drawn to you.
You have the ability to make the workplace enjoyable by being enthusiastic. One reason businesses hire students out of college is that recent graduates are uplifting. New graduates are untainted by years of working in average organizations. Keep a positive attitude and take on new challenges. Negativity and sarcasm are poor alternatives.
Optimism and enthusiasm go hand-in-hand. Being optimistic during periods when projects are running smoothly is easy. But optimism is more important during challenging times. Software engineering is a difficult field! There are a myriad of reasons why projects can fail. Ambiguous requirements, poor project plans, incorrect architectures, faltering project sponsorship, and team member attrition are a small subset of the major issues that can occur.
Yet technology projects do succeed. Success is controlled by the optimism of a project team. Success must always be viewed as an option during the most difficult times. Be a source of optimism and your colleagues will remember you as a valuable contributor. People want to be around others who are positive. If you exude a positive vibe, your colleagues will be eager to work with you again in the future.
As a recent college graduate you will not have the same depth of technical expertise nor the breadth of project experience as your colleagues. Enthusiasm makes up for the knowledge you lack today and is just as valuable to the success of your projects.
