# Expect Less, Get More?

DevFeed: [Expect Less, Get More?](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/expect-less-get-more-12442.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<http://brooker.co.za/blog/2012/09/02/expect-less.html>)

Author: Marc Brooker

Published: 2012-09-02T00:00:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Marc Brooker's Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/marc-brooker-s-blog.md>), [Marc Brooker's Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/marc-brooker-s-blog-2.md>)

Topics: [Software Engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/software-engineering.md>), [software-development](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/software-development.md>), [engineering-culture](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/engineering-culture.md>)

Tags: [developers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/developers.md>), [microsoft](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/microsoft.md>), [software-development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/software-development.md>), [software-engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/software-engineering.md>)

## AI overview

The article discusses how newly hired software engineers often struggle with the expectation that they must prove themselves by doing everything independently. Drawing on studies of new Microsoft hires, it argues that fear of revealing knowledge gaps can waste time, reduce communication, delay acclimatization, and hinder early contribution. Managers and leaders should give capable newcomers time to learn and reach their potential.

## Source excerpt

Expect Less, Get More? On what newly hired engineers think they need to do. Hiring good software engineers is really difficult. It's hard to find good people, hard to filter good hires from bad hires, and possibly even harder to decide what 'good' really means. When we find a good hire, we want to make sure they can reach their potential as quickly as possible. Most good software managers and leaders realize that even excellent people may take some time to really contribute. They have a lot to learn, and must be given the time to learn, however eager we are to get them contributing to our projects. I recently came across a pair of papers from Andrew Begel at Microsoft Research, and Beth Simon at UCSD. In Novice Software Developers, All Over Again and Struggles of New College Graduates in their First Software Development Job, they present the results from a study where they followed eight new Microsoft hires for a total of 85 hours. All of the material in these studies is very interesting, but the section I found most relevant to my interests is the list of Misconceptions Which Hinder. The universal misconceptions they list all seem to match my own experiences early in my career, and seem to align well with what I see colleagues struggling with. Perhaps the most poignant of these is the first one: 1. I must do everything myself so that I look good to my manager. This misconception is particularly dangerous, especially in large, complex development environments. [...] the perceived need to "perform" and not "reveal deficiencies" makes for much wasted time. It also seems to contribute to poor communication and a longer acclimatization. Communication suffered both by waiting too long to seek help and by trying to cover up issues that the [engineer] perhaps felt he "should know." The fact that this was universally felt is especially interesting given the diverse educational backgrounds of the study subjects: Subjects W, X, Y and Z had BS degrees, V had an MS, and U, R, and