WARNING: Typed on a phone and will probably have really odd typos and autocorrect making stuff into French
Let’s be blatantly pessimistic for a second—the relationships between many developers are terrible. Your Twitter timeline is probably filled with a ton of drama and developers fighting over seemingly small things. And it only gets worse. What can you do? Well, I’d recommend you prevent it from happening to your own development team, and here’s how.
1. Recognize your fellow developers as people
It should be obvious, but apparently, this needs to be said. You need to remember that that person on your team probably has feelings. And they’ll probably be offended if you treat them like a robot and don’t reward them for their efforts (or, at the very least, praise them for their work). People will be a lot more motivated if you treat them like humans, honestly. Try to understand that people have certain specialties and might be able to build a house that makes you want to live in your computer screen but build a car that makes you want to throw your computer away (because I might be that guy who builds that really, really bad car). And hey, don’t be that person who goes about taking all the credit. Big hint: NO ONE LIKES THAT GUY, AND BRAGGING DOESN’T MAKE PEOPLE ADMIRE YOU. Deep breath in and out, Derpy! To the next entry!
2. Don’t give people work you know they can’t do
If you’re using this as a way to put yourself in the spotlight, congratulations! You’re making it easier for the angered developers to aim their weapons at you! If you’re the big boss, maybe you’re hoping you can pay them less because you gave them something they can’t do. Obviously, you shouldn’t make a scripter build a mansion or a music composer animate some guy jumping out a window because he needs to escape his greedy developer boss. You should also confirm with the developer that they are able to do the job before telling them to do it. It kind of prevents them from losing all their hair at sixteen. Oh, and please don’t make your deadlines one hour after assignment. We have lives, you know!
3. Don’t tell people off because they didn’t do something like you thought it would turn out
Constructive criticism is good. Punching people in the face with words isn’t. If someone doesn’t do something…amazingly, don’t fire them unless you really know that’s their standard quality. I mean, it’s called “being nice”. Tempting, I know. But hey, you can always let them improve instead of telling them, “LOSER! YOU’LL NEVER GET BETTER! YOUR CODE LOOKS LIKE DERPY WROTE IT!” Be. Nice. And don’t remind me of how bad my coding is.
4. Analyze why you feel a certain way about someone on the development team
Oftentimes, we kind of just don’t like someone. Some say seven seconds make our first impression. But why? Is it because they wrote a boring tutorial about how to get along with your development squad? Some also believe that a lot of the time, you don’t like people because the world is a mirror. Learned that from my uncle, so I know it’s a trustworthy fact. (Wink, wink.) Well, he’s a programmer, so I guess we can learn a bit from him, eh? (Canadians don’t actually say eh [from my experience as one].) Anyways, what does this mean? Well, if you meet someone and dislike them, it’s likely that you despise them because they have a trait that you have that you don’t like. Boom. Mind blown! Learning this fact(?) can help you grow as a person. Just realize no one is perfect.
5. If a developer is the cause of the drama, don’t make it worse
You walk into a mall and find some guy running around stabbing people. What are you going to do? Go stab people too? “Hey, he started it!” I think we can be a bit more civilized than that, friend! Also, humour can help, too! Try to lighten the mood by making the whole situation seem funny and not that big of a deal if possible and appropriate. Try to make everyone happy (and the word everyone does not mean “just yourself”). Know that others have different opinions and mindsets. That brings us to…
6. Be accepting of differences
Politics, religion, and whether or not Jailbreak is a good game—they all have one thing in common: They are all sure to spark a rather heated debate. But really, our opinions are our opinions. If someone disagrees—and especially about these subjects—it’s really best to avoid what’s about to come next, and if it happens, try to find something the other person says that you agree with and focus on that. Chances are, they’ll probably love you a lot more than if you don’t insult their favourite candidate’s hair. If I hate Trump, it doesn’t mean you have to! Now go spread the loooooooooove. uwu
7. Critique work, not persons
Imagine this: You are hired to code a collapsing roof, but you accidentally make the gravity reverse and the Robloxians collapse on the roof instead. You tell your boss you’re sorry and they say, “I WISH THE ROOF COLLAPSED ON YOU INSTEAD!” I bet you just love the boss now. It probably would have been a lot nicer if they helped you by telling you what was wrong with what happened and how you can improve it (as long as they add an emoji—emojis make everything better). I’m assuming you wouldn’t have realized that there is something wrong with what happened, anyways. ;3
8. Try to understand where others are coming from
It’s hard to see a side you’re against. I know that. I can barely look at people who eat pineapple pizza. (Kidding! I actually think the controversial food okay!) It’s a good idea to question your own opinions before you press them onto others—especially your strong opinions. It’s a lot better to lose an argument with yourself than to lose one with a developer who is supposed to be on your side. It’s like robbing yourself of your self-esteem! Cheerful. I mean, imagine if you argued with someone and told them ten comes after eight. How embarrassing would that be? If only you thought about it before saying it.
10. Discuss aspects of games together
Whether they’re the builder, animator, composer, scripter, translator, GUI designer, or just some random person on the development squad, talk together. Collaborate. Not only does this bring developers closer while stirring up new game ideas (it’s fun!), but it also means a combination of a variety of different minds to make one. These ideas are often more unique than those of an individual. Become one. :3
11. Be nice
Self-explanatory. .3.
Okay. Good luck not dying on Twitter! ;33333333
