Question

7,Why do you think you might be a good team member on a software development team someday?

Answer 1

In a recent job description, I said that I was looking for something similar. Here's what I mean:

1. You like working with others. This doesn't mean you have to be particularly extroverted. But if you don't like collaboration, we'll just make you crazy.
2. You have some social skills. As a fellow programmer, my standards aren't super high here; I'm pretty dorky myself. But you have to know something about how to play well with others.
3. You care about other people. Knowing how to get along with other people isn't enough. You have to care about how other people are doing, and what effect you have on them.
4. You're more interested in team achievement than personal achievement. Glory hounds, heroes, and cowboys can wreck a team. As in sports, good development teams win or lose together.
5. You can think independently. The best teams have people with varied backgrounds and the strength of character to maintain their own viewpoints and opinions.
6. You can compromise. Even though you think independently, you don't have to win every argument. If the rest of the team prefers a difference code indentation style and you can't persuade them otherwise, you can let it go.
7. You're generally happy. Eeyores, whiners, and mopers can suck the energy out of a team. You don't have to be a ray of sunshine every second, but you should be able to stay positive and enthusiastic most of the time.

That seems like the basics to me.

I should note that when some people say "teamwork" they mean people who will put up with unending because that's what someone in power finds convenient. Those people will say that somebody standing up for themselves (or for the customers) "isn't a team player". But when support goes just one way, that's not a team. Beware of that!