Being Helpful Isn't Always Good Advice, Try This Instead

18 Feb 2025 #career

We all want to stand out at work.

We all want a place at the table, a voice in important decisions. OK, maybe not all of us, but it’s a good thing to be heard and known.

These days, while preparing my next Friday Links email, I found this post with 15 lessons from 15 years of coding. It has good advice and advice I’d take with a pinch of salt, like this one:

#6. Be Helpful First

Want to accelerate your career? Focus on helping others succeed. Thoughtfully review pull requests, ask your manager what they need help with, jump in when someone’s stuck, and freely share knowledge.

Sure, when you help, people notice you. Bosses notice you. And being noticed means salary increases and new roles.

But, be careful with being too helpful.

When you’re too helpful:

1. You miss your own deadlines and get into trouble.
2. You become the go-to person or a hero.

When you’re the go-to person, or the only one who does or knows how to do something, you’re a hero.

A hero can’t get sick, go on vacations, take time off, or be promoted. Because if you’re the only one knowing or doing, who’s going to know or do it while you’re out? You can’t leave.

A hero is stuck.

A hero gets phone calls in the middle of the night or on weekends. I don’t know about you, but I definitely don’t enjoy calls from work on my weekends. I don’t want to be a hero.

Instead of being a hero, be a team player.

A team player documents, automates, and teaches what they do and know how to do. A team player can leave at any time without worries. A team player isn’t stuck.

That’s a better way to stand out than being too helpful or a hero.