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I'm really just a mediocre programmer with really good domain knowledge Your problem is that you have no problem. Let me explain... I believe that the "quali

by edw519 16y ago

I'm really just a mediocre programmer with really good domain knowledge Your problem is that you have no problem. Let me explain... I believe that the "quality" of a programmer is not how much you know, but what you can do with it. So it you have "really good domain knowledge", then you probably aren't a mediocre programmer at all, you're probably a good programmer or even better. Like many other hn'ers, I love to come here are check out the latest cool stuff people are doing. Then I hear the 2 voices in my head. One says, "That is so cool - I have to learn that!" The other says, "Big deal, I could do that in BASIC. I may need a few more lines of codes and a couple of hacks, but it will still do the exact same thing." It's tricky to balance all the cool stuff going on with your ability to just get stuff done. You will never learn everything. You will never become the expert at more than one or two things. It's great to learn, but not at the expense of doing. You need both. There were many times I had to build something with my limited knowledge and wished I knew more. But then I built it anyway. Something built with limited resources today is better than something built perfectly tomorrow. If you're unhappy with your job but like coding, then either find another job or start something on the side. But please don't fall into the trap that you aren't good enough because someone else knows something more. That will always be the case. You can't win that battle. Just do the best with what you have and make a practice of adding to it a little at a time. Get satisfaction from the benefits you provide others with what you know now.

DeusExMachina 16y ago
It's tricky to balance all the cool stuff going on with your ability to just get stuff done. You will never learn everything. You will never become the expert at more than one or two things. It's great to learn, but not at the expense of doing This is a quote so good that can be applied to almost all fields of knowledge and life in general.
pgbovine 16y ago
great advice (as usual), edw519 ... have you thought about starting a blog with an FAQ mined from your responses from "Ask HN" questions? an easy hack that someone else could even do would be to troll through "Ask HN" threads, extract the ones where your answer was highest-ranked, and slap them together on a webpage somewhere. then that could be manually filtered and curated. i think that this would be a helpful page for young programmers just getting started with their careers
- edw519 16y ago
  Thanks for the kind words, pgbovine. Yes I have thought about starting a blog for some time, but I was always afraid it would take time away from my programming. Oh, what the heck... http://edw519.posterous.com/ http://edw519.posterous.com/ I have updated my hn profile. Now I have a weekend project.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  I wouldn't limit it to young programmers.
evlapix 16y ago
I absolutely agree. I was destroying myself over not meeting my own expectations as a developer. I've always had other interests but refused them. My thinking was that my discipline would pay off as I became a better programmer and applied more time to practicing. Then, along came a great deal on a decent boat. $250 for motor, hull, interior, outdrive, and trailer. While it did have all of the components, it did require quite a bit of work. I also didn't know a thing about boats when I purchased it. It's been 4 months that I've been working on it. I haven't kicked myself in the ass once for giving up the programming time I would had been able to apply to my skills otherwise. And I'm much more comfortable working in such a frustrating environment now that I don't rely so heavily on satisfaction from programming. Two bonuses that also came from my purchase: - I know a bunch about boats - I'll be able to truly appreciate the free time that my job affords me when I launch for the first time tomorrow (assuming all of the kinks are worked out).
trafficlight 16y ago
Like many other hn'ers, I love to come here are check out the latest cool stuff people are doing. Then I hear the 2 voices in my head. One says, "That is so cool - I have to learn that!" The other says, "Big deal, I could do that in BASIC. I may need a few more lines of codes and a couple of hacks, but it will still do the exact same thing." It's also easy to get discouraged while reading about all of these amazing projects. The internet makes its easy to aggregate all of the top-tier projects and sometimes it feels like you can't compete with these guys. Don't forget that a lot of these people have focused months and years on a single project. I have a tendency to get caught up in the amazement. I saw a post on a Reddit yesterday about a guy who built and amazing boat dock at his house. Now I want to build a dock and I don't even live on the lake!

by edw519 16y ago

DeusExMachina 16y ago

It's tricky to balance all the cool stuff going on with your ability to just get stuff done. You will never learn everything. You will never become the expert at more than one or two things. It's great to learn, but not at the expense of doing This is a quote so good that can be applied to almost all fields of knowledge and life in general.

pgbovine 16y ago

great advice (as usual), edw519 ... have you thought about starting a blog with an FAQ mined from your responses from "Ask HN" questions? an easy hack that someone else could even do would be to troll through "Ask HN" threads, extract the ones where your answer was highest-ranked, and slap them together on a webpage somewhere. then that could be manually filtered and curated. i think that this would be a helpful page for young programmers just getting started with their careers

edw519 16y ago
Thanks for the kind words, pgbovine. Yes I have thought about starting a blog for some time, but I was always afraid it would take time away from my programming. Oh, what the heck... http://edw519.posterous.com/ http://edw519.posterous.com/ I have updated my hn profile. Now I have a weekend project.
jacquesm 16y ago
I wouldn't limit it to young programmers.

evlapix 16y ago

I absolutely agree. I was destroying myself over not meeting my own expectations as a developer. I've always had other interests but refused them. My thinking was that my discipline would pay off as I became a better programmer and applied more time to practicing. Then, along came a great deal on a decent boat. $250 for motor, hull, interior, outdrive, and trailer. While it did have all of the components, it did require quite a bit of work. I also didn't know a thing about boats when I purchased it. It's been 4 months that I've been working on it. I haven't kicked myself in the ass once for giving up the programming time I would had been able to apply to my skills otherwise. And I'm much more comfortable working in such a frustrating environment now that I don't rely so heavily on satisfaction from programming. Two bonuses that also came from my purchase: - I know a bunch about boats - I'll be able to truly appreciate the free time that my job affords me when I launch for the first time tomorrow (assuming all of the kinks are worked out).

trafficlight 16y ago

Like many other hn'ers, I love to come here are check out the latest cool stuff people are doing. Then I hear the 2 voices in my head. One says, "That is so cool - I have to learn that!" The other says, "Big deal, I could do that in BASIC. I may need a few more lines of codes and a couple of hacks, but it will still do the exact same thing." It's also easy to get discouraged while reading about all of these amazing projects. The internet makes its easy to aggregate all of the top-tier projects and sometimes it feels like you can't compete with these guys. Don't forget that a lot of these people have focused months and years on a single project. I have a tendency to get caught up in the amazement. I saw a post on a Reddit yesterday about a guy who built and amazing boat dock at his house. Now I want to build a dock and I don't even live on the lake!