Excellent software engineers have several key characteristics: 1. They are passionate about coding and love figuring out how systems work. 2. They are dedicated to getting work done efficiently and regularly improving their code. 3. They are merciless in debugging and removing all errors from their code to ensure high quality and availability. 4. They are naturally curious and experimental to continuously innovate and bring visions to life through code.

1. Characteristics of
Excellent Software
Engineers
Characteristics of
Excellent Software
Engineers

2. To confirm if you’re
an excellent software
engineer, ask yourself
these questions:

3. Do you love tinkering with
systems to figure out what
makes them digitally tick?
Powerful software engineers
write powerful code.
Do you?
Are you passionate
about coding?
1.

4. Superior software engineers take pride in regularly
revising and releasing new code. Are you the kind of
person that gets massive amounts of stuff done?
2.
Do you take a
get-stuff-done
approach?

5. Not every coder is
dedicated to trouble-
shooting and removing
errors from their code —
but they should be. How
bug-free is your code?
What availability levels
do your apps have?
3.
Am I a merciless
bug killer?

6. Unfortunately, not everyone in software development
is committed to quality. The problem is, quality isn’t
something that can be added later. Do you start and
end with quality?
Are you all about quality?4.

7. In all industries,
truly innovative
people are genuinely
inquisitive and enjoy
experimenting. When
it comes to software,
does this describe
you? Can you not wait
to get to a keyboard
and make someone’s
vision come to life
through code?
5.
Are you naturally
curious and adventurous?

8. Staying up-to-date with trends in digital convergence,
APIs, web apps, and data security can seem like a full-
time job. Are you doing more than just keeping up with
a few technological advances here and there?
6.
Are you keen to keep
learning?

9. Lee Bob Black adapted this presentation from the following article he wrote for SkilledUp:
“How to Become a Software Engineer: You Could Be the Next King of Queen of Code”
Monique Sterling designed this presentation.