How To Pay Attention In Difficult Technical Meetings 

One the the hardest things as a software engineer is paying attention in meetings which are very technically advanced and sometimes above your level, so how do you stay tuned in then and how do you continue to pay attention?

1. I try to stay focused on the task at hand. If I lose focus, even just for a minute, and click away and do something else, then I lose the main point.

2. Ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions. As I am usually the most junior person in the room, I am sometimes afraid of dominating the meeting with my questions. But from past experience, as long as I am with my own team, then questions, as long as relevant and considerate, can actually be really helpful as they force the team to reconsider the finer details. When I am in a bigger meeting, I am much more mindful of only asking the most relevant of questions; the more people on the call, the more it has to be relevant to their time.

3. Take notes. I am still figuring this one out. If anyone has any amazing techniques then please let me know.

4. One technique is to imagine you will be quizzed on the content of the meeting afterwards. Then you have to think about what you are hearing.

5. However by far the best technique I know for listening is listening to listen, and not to respond. That goes beyond taking notes I guess. Try listening to listen and not listening to respond and see how amazingly the quality of your life changes.