Professional Relationships in IT - The Key

Building a good relationship with the people you work all day long has a lot of benefits in an IT company. Especially in Software companies, where collaboration is the key to making a product / a service successful.

If you want to be successful in your career as a software engineer, you will be asked to build and maintain a good relationship with various other developers and also (of course) the management.

The office is not just about working and collecting your paycheck every month. This is the place where you spend most of your time in a day so you will interact with many people and get to know them both professionally and personally. Often times, some of them end up as your best friends for life.

Let's look at some of the benefits:

Professional benefits:

1. You get timely assistance when you are stuck with a roadblock / problem.

2. You will receive guidance on how to pursue your career in the organization.

3. You will get partners during events like developer conferences, hackathons and meetup talks.

4. Your chances of getting promoted to higher positions get increased.

5. You will complete the work-related tasks allocated to you will less strain / effort.

6. You will overcome situations when you would try to quit the job.

Non-professional benefits:

1. You'll make some good friends to enjoy your coffee-break and lunch.

2. You sometimes make best friends because you spend most of your time with them in the day.

3. You'll find people who share similar interests because you both do the same things.

4. You don't feel tense at the office as you have people to reach out to.

5. You get to hang out with people in and outside the office.

These are just a few of them but I'm sure there are plenty of other benefits if you continue to have a good relationship with your fellow co-workers. If you don't, then your life in the office can be very frustrating, boring and sometimes unbearable.

So now you know the goodness, but in this world, nothing comes for free and you will need to put your efforts to achieve pretty much anything. Even a professional relationship. Ironically, it is sometimes very hard to gain trust and maintain relationships.

Here are the things that you can do that will ensure you develop a good relationship with co-workers:

#1: Resolve their Roadblocks - "Give and take policy"

Like I said, nothing comes for free. Before you expect someone to help you, you will have to help them first. You will have to show them that you are willing to help when they need and they can look out for you. This will build trust and relationship and they will certainly come back to you for more. Eventually, you start helping each-other and strengthen your relationship in the office.

#2: Communicate often - "Discuss about topics unrelated to work"

Keep communicating often. This will ensure that they will not think that you are approaching them only when you need something. This will also allow you to know about what they need in their daily work life so that you can add value to their work.

You should develop a habit of discussing certain topics that are not related to work as well. But you shouldn't go too personal. Keep it in scope and have a good conversation going over a cup of coffee. You'll get to know them more and vice versa. They will offer help when you need.

#3: Provide career advice - "Care about their career along with yours"

As much as you love to enhance in your career, you should also provide good and quality career advice to your co-workers you want to develop good relationships with. Because providing career advice will open up inner thoughts and what they truly feel about their work and what do they want to pursue in their life. It will make your words add value to their work life and they will intern provide you with some advice that benefits you. All this will ensure that the relationship is healthy and strong.

#4: Hang out - "Evenings and weekend fun"

Whether it be after the office hours (in the evenings) or on weekends, you should consider spending your time for your co-workers. This will engage them with you and provide you with their opinions on different aspects. You may even talk about your future in your company or about how other companies are doing during these hangouts (but don't drag for too long).

Go to a hotel for lunch / dinner, a short trip in the outskirts of your city or hang out for some shopping in a mall. But you shouldn't make this a habit that would turn into dating. That takes the conversations to a whole new level.

#5: Respect - "In the end, it's all about mutual respect"

No matter how you interact with your co-workers, and how much you help them, a subtle show of respect always wins the situation. So whenever they help you to resolve a certain roadblock, say "Thank you for doing this for me", "it was very helpful", "Do let me know if you need anything".

The way you speak also matters and you should make yourself approachable first.