How to become organized and interested in things you don't like?

Question

After 11 years in the tech field, I've started to realize I'm not expected to only write good code and deliver creative solutions, but also communicate better, mentor others, set and track deadlines, report progress, document initiatives and help my team deliver, all while keeping leadership happy and informed.But as someone who never gave much attention to that and instead spent it's entire career fiddling with cool tech and hunting interesting rabbit holes, how could I pick up such skills, and most importantly, how could I get motivated and interested in such things? Is that transition even possible?

JNRowe · Accepted Answer

Beyond agreeing with jjgreen on start small…
For motivation: I know it is trite, but The Seinfeld Calendar¹ can be a really useful method to train yourself. If you're an org-mode user org-habit² is an excellent solution for the same task, seeing no red or yellow bars becomes truly comforting. I collect a bunch of "catch up with $junior"-type tasks for this purpose, especially in the New Times where I'm not seeing their faces so often.
I believe one of the cool things about earning the senior badge is how often you have your eyes opened to new ideas from fresh minds. Don't treat the duties simply as management chores, use it as an opportunity to learn about the great code and creative solutions from other people. And, if the code isn't all that great or the solutions all that creative then you've just found yourself a mentorship challenge to tackle ;)
¹ https://lifehacker.com/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret-2...
² https://orgmode.org/manual/Tracking-your-habits.html

jjgreen · Answer

For mentoring, try starting small and informally; a PR from a newb could really use some x, so offer to work through that via a DM on slack or whatever, informal so low risk if you're rubbish at it -- maybe you're better than you think.

asimjalis · Answer

I&rsquo;d recommend reading Kathy Kolbe&rsquo;s Conative Connection. She says that this transition is not possible. You could simulate this behavior but it would not be instinctive. So it would be poorly executed, will burn you out, and will not produce the payoff it produces for the people who do these things instinctively.

readonthegoapp · Answer

if you get a new role that requires these things, then you will be forced to do them.
else you will be fired.
or at least made very unconfortable.
not sure you ever have to get motivated or interested in these things.
it's like the whole idea of work that has to be something fulfilling? eh - i don't think it makes much sense.
i think in an ideal world, we would have a different economy and do generally meaningful work, etc. etc., but day to day, you still gotta do the dishes, take out the trash, etc.