On the way home from my run this morning I was thinking about what differentiates developers and what employers look for when hiring new staff. Of course there are the obvious factors such as education, experience and references but what really differentiates the candidates beyond that? One of the factors I find particularly interesting is the ability to communicate and work with others. Part of this is a reflection on how intra or extraverted someone is.
While I contemplated this thought I started to take note of the behaviour of other people out walking or running. There are some that keep their heads bowed and refuse to make any acknowledgment of others; there are some who are obviously deep in thought and appear to look straight through you; there are some who nod or grunt (men only) at you as you pass; then there are a few that say good morning and maintain eye contact. This made me think of some basic questions that will make you think about how extraverted you are:
- When you’re walking down the street do you avoid eye contact with other people?
- If you see someone you know, do you go out of your way to say hello?
- If you see someone you recognise but can’t remember their name or perhaps where you know them from, do you avoid catching their eye or saying hi?
- If you’re talking to someone who you can’t remember their name do you ask them, or do you just hope that someone else will mention it?
- If you traveling on the bus/train do you chat with the person sitting next to you?
I’m sure there are a million other more analytical questions you could ask to determine where someone is an introvert or an extravert but these are just a few that I was thinking about this morning.