Good work speaks for itself

I have noticed something about the people I enjoy working with most. It’s not about what they build or how good they are as developers but it’s how they approach building it. They’re ambitious about the work itself and they genuinely try to make something good and something well thought out.

You see it in how they work. They don’t just rush to code or jump to the first solution. They think about the problem and they care about getting it right. And also what stands out mostly is that they take people with them. They explain their thinking and help others understand why they’re doing things a certain way. They’re not the type who just says “this is how we do it” and moves on. They help others see the bigger picture think through alternatives understand the tradeoffs.

In tech you notice these people quickly. In my company where I work at it mostly seems to come from freelancers which kind of makes sense as they tend to work for themselves and make it their craft. They treat every project like it’s worth doing properly. They ask the right questions, push back on bad ideas and bring the team along. When they iterate until something is actually good you understand why because they’ve shown you.

There’s a Dutch saying “Goed werk spreekt voor zich” which means good work speaks for itself. And it does. But these people make sure others can create that same good work too. Watching them changed how I think about my own career. Going through the motions isn’t the same as actually caring about the outcome and helping others care too. What matters is solving problems properly and making sure the team understands the solution. The biggest lesson from working with these ambitious builders is consistency. They approach everything with that same care how do we make this good? How do we make it right? And how do we bring everyone to that same level?

The more I saw that in others the more I wanted to do it myself.