I left GitHub in 2019. I was one of the lucky ones. I left on my own terms, so I had the chance to put in my notice. That allowed me to say goodbye and even have a last video call with my colleagues in Support.
They surprised me by showing me a video they had created. A collection of people sharing why they liked working with me, how I had affected their work and more.
I was surprised both from the kind gesture, but also from the things they were saying about me.
When you are humble by nature, you don’t notice how you help others. You are just being you, but people around you flourish. Now, how can I be humble by saying I am humble? Well, this paragraph is difficult for me to write. But I need to express why I think I was surprised when people talked nice about me.
I was cleaning up some of my digital files, and came across this video again. I thought it would be nice to watch it and extract the unique points people made. Here are some of those points:
- You have an incredible passion for our users
- It’s been an absolute pleasure working with you
- Thank you for taking a chance on us
- Your personality and your values contributed to the personality and values of our Support team
- You have been as kind as you have been professional
- Your management style comes from a place of kindness and thoughtfulness
- You are an amazing engineer
Now, I am sure I have failed some people. I couldn’t have been great to everyone. Regardless of whether it was my fault, their fault, or our fault. That’s just a fact when you are working for a large organization and you interact with lots of people.
I think overall, I was a net positive.
Most people have those qualities. Some just need to work a little bit towards them. There are many ways to succeed in a company. Here’s one way and what you can focus on:
- Be passionate about your users. Anything you do comes down to how it helps them or not.
- Be kind to people, but don’t hide the truth from them about their performance.
- Think before sharing feedback, but make it quick and to the point.
- Give people a chance. No one was born knowing everything. Focus on their potential and help them grow.
- Be yourself, as trying to be something else is exhausting, and people will feel you are not authentic.
- Learn and grow continuously, so that you can be great at your job and help others grow.
I would love to hear if you had a similar moment when others talked about you. What did people say? How have you affected their work and lives?
Here’s what I am doing
At Workbrew, I help our customers succeed, while working on docs, fixing bugs, and developing internal tools. At Amignosis, I pour my heart and skill into crafting slowly brewed software, one thoughtful line at a time. I am craftsman in a world of complexity and low-quality solutions. I am a shoemaker. I take the time to create simple, timeless software built to last. Check what I am doing now and talk to me.