As You Thinketh!

Supporter Vs Developer

Are you a supporter or developer? This was an interesting discussion which I had with a Delivery Manager at Infosys some months back. What the delivery manager was saying was that people at work can be broadly divided into 2 kinds viz. supporter and developer.

Supporters are people who work efficiently, improve constantly and clearly focussed on their growth by honing their knowledge and skills. You can often see them prepare to do lists at work, complete the tasks, tick mark the list and return home. They support the team very well this way. Consultants and subject matter experts might fall into this category.

Developers on the other hand are people who know their job is to ensure their team members perform exceedingly well. They spend time and resources to develop their skills and knowledge base and ensure that the team benefits through this. Developers might not be the best or most knowledgeable employee in the team, but they lead from the front and ensure the team gets things done and team members are commeded. Project managers and business unit leaders fall into this category.

There is nothing wrong in being in either one of these categories. It really depends on an individual's characteristics, strengths and interests. One's desire might be a supporter while they are naturally cut out to be a developer or vice versa. Self awareness often provides one with the right answers as to which role fits one better.

I am still trying to classify myself into one of these though I very clearly want to be a developer. The reason my mind went back to the discussion was because of an incident which happened today. There is a team member of mine who gave a certification on banking on Friday but did not clear it. She is a software engineer with a technical background. However domain certifications are mandated by Infosys. I clearly saw a need for her to understand banking fundamentals better to clear the exam as well as handle customer queries well. So I voluntarily held a session for about 2 hours explaining the fundamentals and ensuring that all her queries were answered. The kind of satisfaction I derived through this exercise was immense.

It remains to be seen tomorrow whether she clears the certification or not. However rest assured that I took my first step in trying to become a developer.

Labels: developer, supporter

posted by Vasanth Sandilya @ 11:26 AM