After about 26 years programming -- that is, since i was a little kid, this is what i wish i would knew, not only 4 years in, but also on my 1st year at doing a

After about 26 years programming -- that is, since i was a little kid, this is what i wish i would knew, not only 4 years in, but also on my 1st year at doing actual paid work: -1. That I should have jumped in straight into Lisp from day one. 0. That popular technology does not mean that said stuff is the best, great, good, or even acceptable. Example: PHP 4. 1. That the industry raves about a seriously, seriously crippled and flawed language (Java) 2. That "Design Patterns" are mostly workarounds for the problems introduced by flawed languages (again, Java and friends); not great ideas to be proselytized. 3. That Object-Oriented-Programming is not only done in the way of C++ or Java, but that there are much superior ways to do OOP. (i.e. Smalltalk, CLOS) 4. That if you want to solve complex problems in a productive way, you need a multi-paradigm language. Strict-OOP languages or Strictly-Functional languages will limit you, unless the problem is really suited to it. 5. That the "Blub paradox" is real. Programming languages are not equal. 6. Real world (i.e. commercial, production) software should always be done by experienced people, not by juniors. 7. A seasoned (say, 8+ experience) programmer can done things 8 times as fast as a junior (graduate) programmer. I've seen this firsthand. 8. Dilbert -as others have pointed out- is a documentary. 8.1 Corollary: Pointy-haired bosses are real. 9. The customers will always think everything has been done using Excel Macros. 10. The salesmen are very important to the health of the company, so don't make fun of them; rather, make friends with them and help them get aligned to what the technical team is able to do.