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I used to be able to burn longer when I was twenty, but I'd spend that fuel on shit I've learned doesn't matter like 100% test case coverage, setting up continu

I used to be able to burn longer when I was twenty, but I'd spend that fuel on shit I've learned doesn't matter like 100% test case coverage, setting up continuous integration servers, and load testing against massive amounts of traffic I'd never see. I could go on and on about the stuff I'd do I don't do anymore. It's not that those things don't have their place, or that all young programmers are guilty of premature optimizations, but there's no difference in terms of productivity between doing nothing and doing things that don't matter at all. It took me a while to learn that, and I still catch myself wasting time.

heymijo 10y ago
Do you ever get asked about this? e.g. what you don't do anymore as a result of learning from experience Either in your current role / in interviews / on the street?
- johnwheeler 10y ago
  not that i can recall. why do you ask?
  - heymijo 10y ago
    It seems like you have learned a tremendous amount throughout your career that others could benefit from, that's why! Not learning from you flies in the face of wisdom (1)(2). I'm not afraid to generalize this either. I see so many people and organizations repeating the same mistakes, of their own, and of others', over and over. I envision an organization built around the idea of learning from others' experience. It's a near mythical creature, but it could run circles around its peers, who would doggedly pursue finding out its "secret" and promptly discounting it when they hear "learn from others' experience / history." This turned into a mini-rant, but it's because I am incredulous that you and others like you have learned so much yet the potential of that knowledge is so rarely tapped into. (1)“Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.” ― Otto von Bismarck (2) Why Don't We Learn from History by B.H. Liddell Hart https://www.amazon.com/Why-Dont-We-Learn-History/dp/0985081139/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481383998&sr=8-1&keywords=why+don%27t+we+learn+from+history https://www.amazon.com/Why-Dont-We-Learn-History/dp/09850811...

heymijo 10y ago

Do you ever get asked about this? e.g. what you don't do anymore as a result of learning from experience Either in your current role / in interviews / on the street?

johnwheeler 10y ago
not that i can recall. why do you ask?
- heymijo 10y ago
  It seems like you have learned a tremendous amount throughout your career that others could benefit from, that's why! Not learning from you flies in the face of wisdom (1)(2). I'm not afraid to generalize this either. I see so many people and organizations repeating the same mistakes, of their own, and of others', over and over. I envision an organization built around the idea of learning from others' experience. It's a near mythical creature, but it could run circles around its peers, who would doggedly pursue finding out its "secret" and promptly discounting it when they hear "learn from others' experience / history." This turned into a mini-rant, but it's because I am incredulous that you and others like you have learned so much yet the potential of that knowledge is so rarely tapped into. (1)“Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.” ― Otto von Bismarck (2) Why Don't We Learn from History by B.H. Liddell Hart https://www.amazon.com/Why-Dont-We-Learn-History/dp/0985081139/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481383998&sr=8-1&keywords=why+don%27t+we+learn+from+history https://www.amazon.com/Why-Dont-We-Learn-History/dp/09850811...