that perception is everything. no matter how good you are, but if your work doesn't get noticed by the right people, then your career will suffer. People with good social skills who may be mediocre developers will move up much faster than you, and you will think why is it that you get left behind?
Example: You're a senior supporting your more junior devs whenever they run into trouble, and you hardly get credit for it because the business side doesn't even realize it. All they see is tickets moving.
I've kind of learned this the hard way and even before learning it, I actually luckily took advantage of this without even realizing it in a previous job.
Make sure that the work you're doing is credited to you in front of top brass. But you can't be too overt or braggy about it otherwise it will get annoying to your coworkers and then you will suffer. It seems like an art form almost.
Once I got an unexpected praise from a customer for some proxy work I did. I was overjoyed and exclaimed something to the lines of "see, that's how is done." A few days later I didn't get the recommendation letter I was supposed to receive by the same customer. There might be other things at play here or maybe he overshot with the praise. I don't know, but ever since, I don't make much of such praise. I just say thank you and move on.
Example: You're a senior supporting your more junior devs whenever they run into trouble, and you hardly get credit for it because the business side doesn't even realize it. All they see is tickets moving.
I've kind of learned this the hard way and even before learning it, I actually luckily took advantage of this without even realizing it in a previous job.
Make sure that the work you're doing is credited to you in front of top brass. But you can't be too overt or braggy about it otherwise it will get annoying to your coworkers and then you will suffer. It seems like an art form almost.