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From what I've seen, there's just no crossing the skill chasm as a software developer. You've either got it, or you don't. No amount of putting your nose to the

by edw519 15y ago

From what I've seen, there's just no crossing the skill chasm as a software developer. You've either got it, or you don't. No amount of putting your nose to the grindstone will change that. What a scary thought. Good thing it's not true. One of the many reasons I became a programmer was that the sky was the limit. Still is. Want to learn something new? Learn it. Want to build something cool? Build it. The only real limitations are your belief that you can do it and your willingness to perservere until you do. We are not like basketball players or musicians or chess masters where only the extremely gifted (who also work hard) can rise to the top of their craft. With few exceptions, we all can. I didn't always think this way. I had a college math professor who once said, "Many of my students are simply not suited for the sciences." And I was stupid enough to believe him! In retrospect, his comment said more about his weakness as a teacher than anything about his students. How do I know this? Because I learned the hard way. When working with my first mentor, I was always too quick to blame someone else for their limitations slowing progress. Until he said, "So teach them!" He believed that almost anyone can learn and get good at almost anything. This seemed counterintuitive but after a while, I was able to adopt this belief system, and it has made all the difference. There are many reasons why so many programmers suck, but "not being able to cross the chasm" isn't one of them. Just a few of the real reasons: - They never learned right in the first place. - They never built anything of real substance. - They were a tiny cog in a machine and never saw the big picture. - They got pigeon-holed into a small area for a long time. - Other things in their life took over. - They had shitty teachers. - They had to build on top of pre-existing shit and couldn't do it right. - They were stuck in environments where excellence never mattered. - They went into management too soon. - They got trapped into old technologies and methodologies. - They made too much money to make a career u-turn. - They just didn't care enough. - <add your own> My programming has always gotten better every year. Sometimes I read my old code and can't believe I wrote it. And I still have tons of room for improvement. I'm firmly convinced that almost any of us can get better, much better. And even become "elite", whatever that means. Please don't listen to anyone else who tells you otherwise.

ayanb 15y ago
> 'They never learned right in the first place.' I can relate this to a game of Table Tennis. A guy I know played lousy for two decades, his technique never improved. Then one day he got hold of a masterful neighbor who taught him how to play, hit top spins, do spin serves, hit chops. He participates in amateur tournaments now and does fairly well.
- Apocryphon 15y ago
  It's always good to remember that ten years' worth of experience and repeating the one year of experience ten times are not the same thing.
singular 15y ago
I am so, so glad you said this. I've been experiencing such a crisis of confidence recently around the idea that I lack talent, so much so that I've felt like there was no point in trying to improve things beyond where they are, or to even risk being criticised that it's totally frozen me up. Thank you.
- gruseom 15y ago
  Please don't make the mistake of assuming this discussion applies to you. The subject has nothing to do with honing one's programming skills. [Edit: oops, I confused this thread with another. Never mind, the real point follows.] As for crises of confidence, what makes them tough is that they opportunistically seize on every item that floats through consciousness and turn it into some new weapon to batter you with. One thing I found helped is to give up on the idea of "talent" altogether and just focus on things that interest you and give you pleasure (edit: and best of all, have value to others) whether or not you have any talent at all. Actually, someone who really lacked talent probably wouldn't feel the way you describe. They'd just drop out of the game and rationalize it as "that stuff sucks anyway". So you probably do have talent, but the state you're describing is not one that can accurately assess anything remotely related to the idea. In such a state, it can actually be creatively liberating to just redefine yourself as a fool and get on with it. It's like when you're sitting by a swimming pool enjoying the sun and someone starts splashing you with water. If you can't get them to stop, a good defense is to just jump in the pool.

by edw519 15y ago

ayanb 15y ago

> 'They never learned right in the first place.' I can relate this to a game of Table Tennis. A guy I know played lousy for two decades, his technique never improved. Then one day he got hold of a masterful neighbor who taught him how to play, hit top spins, do spin serves, hit chops. He participates in amateur tournaments now and does fairly well.

Apocryphon 15y ago
It's always good to remember that ten years' worth of experience and repeating the one year of experience ten times are not the same thing.

singular 15y ago

I am so, so glad you said this. I've been experiencing such a crisis of confidence recently around the idea that I lack talent, so much so that I've felt like there was no point in trying to improve things beyond where they are, or to even risk being criticised that it's totally frozen me up. Thank you.

gruseom 15y ago
Please don't make the mistake of assuming this discussion applies to you. The subject has nothing to do with honing one's programming skills. [Edit: oops, I confused this thread with another. Never mind, the real point follows.] As for crises of confidence, what makes them tough is that they opportunistically seize on every item that floats through consciousness and turn it into some new weapon to batter you with. One thing I found helped is to give up on the idea of "talent" altogether and just focus on things that interest you and give you pleasure (edit: and best of all, have value to others) whether or not you have any talent at all. Actually, someone who really lacked talent probably wouldn't feel the way you describe. They'd just drop out of the game and rationalize it as "that stuff sucks anyway". So you probably do have talent, but the state you're describing is not one that can accurately assess anything remotely related to the idea. In such a state, it can actually be creatively liberating to just redefine yourself as a fool and get on with it. It's like when you're sitting by a swimming pool enjoying the sun and someone starts splashing you with water. If you can't get them to stop, a good defense is to just jump in the pool.