Brandon Gregory

As developers, working toward better positions and better salary means increasing your worth to your employer. Getting better at the technologies you use is a given — we should all be doing that. But past that, it gets a bit murky. How do we tangibly increase our value to the companies we work for? One great way is learning how to impact the business side of things in addition to the technology side.

The picture of the tortured artist has endured for centuries: creative geniuses who struggle with their metaphorical demons and don’t relate to life the same way as most people. Today, we know some of this can be attributed to mental illness: depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and many others. We have modern stories about this and plenty of anecdotal information that fuels the popular belief in a link between creativity and mental illness.

Looking back over my eleven-year career in the web industry, I owe most of my success to two people from early on: Holly and Rebecca. Both were supervisors; but, more importantly, both were mentors. I wouldn’t be where I am today without their mentorship. Three years into my career, I got a promotion and became a supervisor myself. It was so exciting to be in a position to mentor others and give back to the community! I only had one question: how the heck do I do that?