No matter the business type or sector, if you employ programmers, their overall skill level needs to be top notch — and always improving. It is vital to ensure your developers stay interested, challenged, and successful whether they are engineering new systems or maintaining legacy systems.
Thankfully, there are some easy-to-follow techniques to help your programming managers make sure their teams’ skills remain sharp and they’re delivering results.
Share the Latest Industry News and Innovations
Keeping programming staff abreast of the latest technical news and innovations is an excellent way to make sure they stay inspired and learning. There are also a wide variety of print and web-based developer magazines aimed at different platforms like .NET, Java, iOS, and Android. Consider a subscription for each team member.
A programmer-centered online community like The Code Project also features a daily email list covering the latest in industry news, coding techniques and patterns, as well as emerging platforms and languages. Developer forums are also a great way to get difficult questions answered and innovative solutions shared.
Local programmer user groups provide a platform to your team for learning the latest technologies amongst their peers. Additionally, if your company sponsors a user group meeting, it serves to raise your profile among the talented software engineers in your area.
Schedule Training Days
Make sure some of your developers’ time is allocated for training and learning purposes. This can be a few hours a week, or maybe one training day each month. If there aren’t any pressing deadlines, Friday afternoons are a great time to spend in training or research. It is an excellent way to make sure your team stays inspired.
Set Goals and Give Positive Feedback
Setting achievable goals is vital for improving your programmers’ abilities. This goes beyond milestones on a project plan; these need to be longer term goals for learning a new language and framework, or earning some form of programming certification.
Another important strategy for your technical managers involves the art of giving feedback to their team. Make sure they stay positive, since even programming mistakes are a great learning opportunity for their entire staff. Peer reviews are a great way to make sure standards are followed and everyone stays on the same page.
Your local IT recruiter is a great resource to leverage when developing a plan to improve overall programmer ability at your company. One of the top technical staffing companies in the New Jersey area, APN Consulting has the staff on hand to ensure your technical staff shows continuous improvement. Contact us today to learn more!