✨ Your Manager Should Never Have to Ping You

#webdev #programming #career #beginners

On my first work assignment, I thought I was doing great work 😎.

I was talking to customers, handling their requirements, making them happy, etc.

However, to my surprise, my manager didn’t share my point of view.

She didn’t realize all the work I was doing and couldn’t articulate the value I was providing.

I was pretty shocked. I thought my work was speaking for itself.

We agreed that I would post a daily update in the team chat to keep them informed. I still didn’t see the need.

But hey, why not?

Fast forward to today—as a team lead, I totally get it 😅.

If I don’t hear from a junior dev on my team regularly, I start getting slightly worried that things are going wrong.

Even with meetings, it’s impossible to have an accurate picture of what everyone is doing unless they communicate it.

In this post, I’ll share why you must over-communicate as a junior dev—and how to do it properly.

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What Happens When You Don’t Over-Communicate

Imagine you ask your younger sibling (3-4 years old) to help you with something.

They’ve never done it before and have no experience.

How would you feel if they stayed silent the whole day?

Chances are, you’d feel uneasy—scared they might be doing something completely wrong (and your mom will kill you 😅).

Having a junior dev on the team can feel the same way 😅.

As mentors, our responsibilities are to:

Make sure they are doing as well as they can
Prevent them from going down rabbit holes
Ensure they don’t make mistakes and try to fix them in silence

So when a junior dev doesn’t communicate progress often, something feels off.

As a junior dev:

You should have multiple questions daily.
You should encounter blockers (and ask for help).
You should share progress frequently.

Even if you’re amazing and don’t need help, you should communicate progress at least twice daily (personal preference).

If you don’t, your mentors will feel stressed or have to ping you regularly.

As a rule of thumb: After the first few weeks, no one should have to ask you for status updates.

How to Over-Communicate Properly

This is as easy as it gets.

It depends on your circumstances:

If you sit next to your manager or team lead, talk to them periodically—ask questions, provide status updates, etc.
If you’re remote, send updates using your team’s communication channels (Slack, messages, etc.).

As a junior dev staffed on a task, you should:

Clarify how long the task is expected to take
Work your best to meet expectations by asking for help when needed

If you can split your task into smaller steps, that would be even better. This will clearly show that you’re actively working and making progress.

In general, communicate with your manager about:

Anything wrong—even if it’s not your fault (e.g., issues caused by another team that impact your work)
Anything blocking or bothering you

Communication doesn’t always have to be written. Opening pull requests and writing code are also ways to show progress.

Over time, you’ll have to communicate less because your manager will trust that you can work independently.

Caveat: My advice applies to someone in a healthy team—which has been my case for the past six years at Palantir. If that’s not your case, frequent questions may not be welcomed.

However, you should still communicate your progress regularly, even if it’s just: “I’m blocked by A and B, but I’m currently doing X and Y to get unblocked.”

Your Challenge This Week:

If you’re a junior developer, evaluate how often your manager has to ping you for an update.

If they regularly ping you, start giving them updates before they ask.
If they don’t, that’s a good sign—but it could also mean they don’t want to be intrusive or don’t care.

Either way, make sure you share daily progress on your tasks.