When you become good at something, you can hit a wall in your development. No matter how hard you try, you feel like you can't break through it. Pu...
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I'm sorry, but I find many points of this post toxic and the primary reason that our field is bathed in burnout. The "ditch everything that doesn't make you better" mentality along with the "eat, exercise and think positive" leads to the propagation of the "lean mean machine" developer who codes all day long, striving for success only stopping to do a couple of pushups and eat some avocado toast.
Many points here can be helpful, especially the ones on code and teamwork, however, I find that they all point in the same direction I mentioned above. In my opinion, it creates an overly competitive playing field where you are looked down upon if you are not spending all your free time coding, reading and doing side projects. This can and will negatively impact many groups and individuals, from minorities, parents, casual workers and all the way to insecure or depressed people, young and old, who start measuring their value as human beings solely on their professional development.
Furthermore, this kind of thinking incentivises companies (especially big ones) to ask their developers for more and more. More working hours, no education on company time ("just read about the new technology we need for our project while you are at home, you have to work now") and ever higher expectations. Just think about the concept of an "always improving developer" and ask yourself of how many professions we expect something similar? Everybody except developers, medical personel and CEOs gets a 9 to 5 and a chance to not think about their work once they walk out the door.
So, if you are a workaholic or someone who has minimal hobbies, responsibilities or relationships, someone who has the time and aspiration to turn oneself into a coding machine and be happy living that way, all the more power to you - that's great. But before you go preaching about it as the only right approach, remember that this is not necessarily a "path available to everyone" and that a wide adoption of such an approach leads to managers increasing working hours, not enabling education on company time and generally putting a lot of people at risk of burnout.
Finally, I'm not saying that we shouldn't all strive to do our best and improve as much as we can. I'm just saying that we should be careful about setting standards which a lot of people cannot reach for one reason or another.
This is a very, very complementary point of view! ❤️
I am very sorry that the article left the impression that we should give all our energy and time to become successful programmers. On the contrary, my point is that we should rest a lot, sleep well, and have a meaningful relationship with friends and family. It is a healthy and happy life that is the key to success, and not only in the field of programming.
I emphasize once again that I do not promote careerism and the idea of workaholism. I am definitely against what employers would demand to work overtime. A tired programmer is a bad programmer. I am for passion and desire to become better in what you do and tried to convey these ideas in these 22 tips.
Yeah, I also have mixed feelings about this post. Everyone learns differently and is able to become successful differently. There isn't a single path set in stone. For example, I find that if I code , when learning new technologies, more than 3 hours straight and push too hard it becomes counter productive, and thats my 110% ,which could look very different than someone else's 110%.
Also, when coding and hitting a wall, I often forget about it , go watch TV, listen music or do something else and when I come back to it later , I am able to tackle the problem and often solve it. So classifying watching TV as a waste of time is kind of judgy and condescending.
Overall, number #6 was my favorite one. Success is not an overnight event. LITTLE BY LITTLE , A LITTLE BECOMES A LOT.
It's great that you recommended Jocko Willink's talk! I watched it immediately. And it reminded me that his book "Extreme Ownership" is in my reading list. It should be a great read.
About 21. I think having time when you detached from what you are doing is very important. It helps to get back to your project and ideas refreshed and with more energy.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. This makes me see my articles through other people's eyes. It broadens my worldview. Extremely helpful!
Hi @iamdi , I really like the post and I think this is what is required for me to do right now.
I need some helpful suggestions from you.
I have around 6 years of exp. but I on't think I have enough knowledge respectively, I work with a service based company here in India and I have been trying to move out of the company but I see that my skills and my knowledge are only helpful to current company and not to market needs from a 6 year exp Software Engineer. I work here as a Data Engineer for some projects and backend engineer for some , Scrum master and Project manager for some projects. I have been trying to give interviews but get shot down getting feedback "not enough expertise".
I know now that I should invest my time in honing my skills but I just don't get past the comfort of the current job my lack of ability to take action.
:(
Guide me pls
Hi Gogi.
I'm sorry for your situation. You absolutely can turn your situation around.
I believe that contributing to open-source can open broad possibilities to you. You can pick a project that is under the company where you dream to work for. I did that in the past and eventually get an offer from that company. But keep in mind this approach can take months but it's fun!
Another way is to apply each week/day and improve over time. It is a number game! You can read about the second approach here (or the same article on dev.to)
Good luck, Gogi!
Thank you for sharing! Point no. 6 is definitely true! No success can happen overnight. I used to struggle to get out of my comfort zone but ended up in the wrong place. I started slowly changing myself and writing all my goals as clearly as possible. I was able to get myself up and started doing as I planned. It was actually getting more effective when I used task management software. I can save a lot of time when planning my plan and easily track my progress. Love it!
I've never tried many tools, but I really like Todoist and Quire.
Really awesome.. I will for sure be sharing this with few people I know, who generally make mistakes as listed in this writing! ❤️
I glad you find it useful!
In my opinion, the dissemination of these ideas will make our profession more mature.
But first of all, we must be aware and see these flaws in ourselves. If you want to change the world, start with yourself.
Awesome writing and the quotes are 🔥🔥🔥
I love quotes and I'm glad you liked them and the article! 🙌
Fantastic. !!!
Thank you, Ajay! ❤️