What are traits of standout software engineers? Here are great observations from @ebiatawodi - currently Director of Product Management at YouTube Studio, and a former product leader at Netflix and Uber.I worked with Ebi for 4 years at Uber, and in this The Pragmatic Engineer podcast episode we go through how engineers, engineering managers and product managers can work better together.Watch or listen:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/f4AGAeVe2Jw• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0UL09hMh2thjkOxhXu3NDs• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-work-better-with-product-as-an-engineer/id1769051199?i=1000705586324Brought to you by:• @WorkOS — The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS https://workos.com/• The Software Engineer’s Guidebook: Written by me (Gergely) – now out in audio form as well https://engguidebook.com/#buy----Some of my takeaways:𝟭. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁-𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲: 𝘀𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 — and if you are a PM or EM, help your engineers become one! One of the biggest gifts from Ebi, myself, and our engineering team was helping all of us become product-minded engineers. Ebi exposed us to how Product worked, made decisions, allocated headcount, and pitched new initiatives to be funded by the business. I wrote more on how to become a product-minded engineer.𝟮. 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗠/𝗣𝗠/𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿/𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲. At work, roles are somewhat artificial. What is not artificial is the person behind the role. It made a massive difference when I got to know the “real Ebi” behind “Ebi, the product manager” — and the other way around, about “Gergely, the engineering manager.” It’s a lot easier to trust a partner when you know more about them than “just” their role at work.𝟯. 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿 — 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁. As tempting as it is to “game the system” of performance reviews or promotions: both Ebi and I agree that you absolutely can game whatever system your company has in place to fast-track that next promotion, or try to get better performance reviews. But the people who do this, others around them notice — especially engineers! What speeds them up in the short term often slows them down in the long term. This is because more senior positions often need strong referrals: and someone who was visibly focused on their own advancement only can struggle to get these.Do standout work, help others when you can, and be kind to others around you, and years later, other standout colleagues could well tap your shoulder, wanting to recruit you to the companies they are currently at. This is how Ebi often got recruited for increasingly senior roles.