Grit is one of the core characteristics we look for when hiring, and it's one of Integrant's core values.  

Why?  

While we have successfully created and implemented essential tools like our 4Plus1 Shadow Engineering Program, CodeVoyance, and a squad lead structure to continue our vision of transforming the software development lifecycle with predictable results, Integrant, at its core, is all about people. 

What Is Grit for a Successful Software Engineering Team?

As defined on our website, grit is the secret sauce at the core of each of our employees. It means that each team member is committed to getting the job done right and never giving up.

When applied to software engineering, our engineers relentlessly pursue project innovation and success, no matter what roadblocks may appear. For Integrant, grit is a critical key to the success of our team members, customers, and company.

The Pillars of Competency: Building a Foundation for Grit Engineering Success

Competency is what pushes success and efficiency in a workplace. Baseline competence comprises varying characteristics and skills that create job performance and efficiency. 

These characteristics and skills include areas like technical skills, leadership, business acumen, communication and project management soft skills, critical and analytical thinking, and teamwork. All of this can also come together to influence grit directly. 

Increased competency can mean better solution options, higher efficiency, improved learning, and more.   

How to Measure Grit and Competency in Software Engineering?

When it comes to measuring things like grit and competency, there’s a bit of a customized approach. It’s important to note that grit and competency shouldn’t be assessed through a competitive lens, but instead, what does the measurement and combination of both tell you about the individual and their capacity for long-term coaching and success.  

The purpose is to understand each individual and their strengths and contributions.  

Let’s say we have a team member who is a little lower on the grit scale, and we’ve noticed their passion in their position is starting to wane. They seem less engaged and more distracted. We can ask further questions to validate our assessment, but uncovering why could be the key to unlocking their grit. 

For example, a software engineering team member was recently shifted to a new project. In their 1:1 meeting, the Squad Lead discovers that the software engineer is learning about a new industry that is complicated, and they aren’t sure if they enjoy it or are interested in it. 

The Squad Lead provides a high-level view of why the engineer was selected to be on the project (their competency and ability to bring a team together) and how the exposure to a new field might help how they think about other industries to improve their work overall. 

The team member continues to stick with it. Slowly, over time, you see an uptick in the team member’s contributions and engagement, but maybe they still have some days where they’re unsure about the project. 

Whether the team member eventually gets rotated to a new project for career development or continues to build a passion for the current project, they have increased their grit engineering skills for following through on challenging or less-than-ideal situations.

Leveraging Grit In Software Engineering  

Now, let’s look at someone higher on the grit scale. While this team member has high grit, you still notice their passion is starting to fade.

This software engineering team member was recently promoted to Squad Lead. Over a few months, they are dropping the ball on things when they have never done so before. After a continuous assessment of how the position is going and what roadblocks they might be encountering, you notice they always gravitate toward project management work.

After several more months of coaching and assessment, they are relentless in self-improvement and learning new skills to improve in their role, but it’s a grind. They would be better suited for another role that highlights their strengths in purely project management.

You slowly transition them into this new role, and you see a change in energy and motivation. Uncovering their interests and narrowing in on what they are good at helped change the work environment for this team member. 

Could this team member have continued to be a Squad Lead because of their grit? Absolutely. Would they have been happy? Probably not. And they would have likely looked for a new opportunity. 

This is one of the many reasons I like to focus on strengths. It’s generally more motivating and yields better results and higher morale. It’s unreasonable that all our engineers will be good at everything. 

This is also why proper team building in software engineering is so critical to the success of our software development projects. We can match strengths together in the same project to create impactful teams.

Aligning Grit with Our Core Values: Fostering a Culture of Grit Engineering

When it comes to recruiting, we are guided by our core values. We know when new team members match our core values, everyone is more successful. 

When assessing something like grit and baseline competency in the software engineering recruitment process, there are three layers to a person that need to be evaluated individually.

The first layer is their characteristics. A person's characteristics are formed and built early in life and grow from personal values. This layer can take time to change, and, in some cases, it's extremely difficult to change. 

The second layer is a person's skills. These are learned and developed, and there is typically a correlation between someone's interests and what they dedicate time to learning.

From skills, we get to the third layer: experience.

Many people will mix skills and experience the same, but these two should be examined individually. For example, you can have a talent for coding and enjoy doing it, but having a solid foundation of experience in coding will create a whole new layer of knowledge.   

By assessing these layers separately, we can better determine how all these pieces will fit into the roles we have open and our existing company culture. This level of commitment to understanding each person we recruit is beneficial to not only our success as a company but to our customers and potential candidates as well.

Identifying Grit in Recruitment for Software Engineering

For potential candidates, you can be assured that our selection is thoughtful, non-discriminatory, and in the best interest of both the individual and our company. We want everyone at Integrant to feel equal, comfortable, challenged, and supported. 

This is one aspect of our goal of creating the best workplace on earth. 

We put in our best effort to find team members in software engineering who match our values and identify what positions will build and maintain their passion for software development. Above all, we want all of our team members to succeed.

This dedication to our recruitment process also means a more carefully curated group of experts for each software engineering project. The better our teams fit together, and the more we can dedicate time to their growth and development, the better project outcomes will be. 

These efforts also help lower the turnover rate at Integrant. Long-term team members result in better, more efficient teams and more passion and experience in every project.

All in all, we approach our workplace with an Agile mindset, just as we do our software development. We are constantly utilizing retrospectives to see what needs to be addressed and improved. We understand unique ways as a person grows in their professional life.   

At Integrant, we will continue to put forth our greatest effort in determining the best ways to nurture grit and growth in the workplace.