A developer's life is NOT just about CODING

A developer's life is not just about writing good code and communicating well with stakeholders. It's also about knowing other tasks which are not really meant or defined for a developer if you read the 'Job description' documented by the company.


These could be anything from configuring Oracle installations, mounting file-systems on a Unix box, writing small pieces of code to automate mundane tasks, fixing something that is wrong with Continuous Integration servers and the list goes on. 
I also know a few developers around who would simply shun from such kind of jobs because they think it's not a part of their role as defined by the company. 


However, if one thinks about it wisely, the advantages of running such odd jobs once in a while are manifold. I will list below the advantages I see out of them...

1. They hone your R&D skills on a platform which you have probably never seen earlier.
2. You are allowed to make mistakes just because you are learning and everyone knows that you are trying your hand at an otherwise specialized job.
3. You get to talk stuff at stand-ups which could be totally new to others, and hence impressive of you :)
4. In the process of searching for solutions, you learn better use of Google keywords.
5. Once you regularly showcase your skills in these odd directions (after having proved your developer acumen of course), people look forward to you as a techie and logical guy, and not just yet another developer around the corner.
6. You get to work with really low level basics and lingos which you might have never heard or used after your graduation.

Hope this makes sense to my developer audience.