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I have 20 yoe but happy to be mentored by someone with much less. There is too much to learn out there, so good chance the less experienced engineer can help me

I have 20 yoe but happy to be mentored by someone with much less. There is too much to learn out there, so good chance the less experienced engineer can help me too.

malthuswaswrong 4y ago
There is too much to learn out there It's crazy. I sometimes get the itch to learn a new language like Rust, but I haven't even come close to reaching the bottom of all the languages I already know. They are inventing new things faster than anyone can acquire them.
- mmsimanga 4y ago
  To add it's not just languages. I was once assigned to teach Cognos a BI tool that's been around a while. I was given the instructor's manuals to go through. It was then I realised how incredible sophisticated the software was and I also realised most people didn't even use 50% of the software's capabilities. I have found the same with text editors and IDEs. You can use an editor for five years and still continue to discover new features.
  - saurik 4y ago
    I have been programming for over 30 years now, and one thing I consider myself an expert in is bash... hell: the (original) author of bash is someone I have known well and used to work for, and he considers me an expert in bash (which is probably another example of this in and of itself), and I once spent a couple months writing my own bash-compatible shell replacement for various reasons with him on the sidelines cheering me on. Well: I have recently been teaching programming to a 10-year old kid, and this morning he told me about the syntax {X..Y}, which expands to the range of characters between X and Y. I have likely typed {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9} a thousand times and now I know you can write {0..9}. I was floored and have it on my todo list tomorrow to see if that is a new feature or if I simply somehow missed it in the man page--which I thought I had carefully read multiple times and which I additionally have skimmed many times--consistently for decades :(.
greyhair 4y ago
This. Completely. I have 38 yoe but I still encounter young people with fresh ideas. Keep that open mind. I have met some old engineers that turned into grumps (don't be one of them) but most of the older technical people I work with regularly find joy, both in their work, and through their coworkers.

I have 20 yoe but happy to be mentored by someone with much less. There is too much to learn out there, so good chance the less experienced engineer can help me too.

malthuswaswrong 4y ago

There is too much to learn out there It's crazy. I sometimes get the itch to learn a new language like Rust, but I haven't even come close to reaching the bottom of all the languages I already know. They are inventing new things faster than anyone can acquire them.

mmsimanga 4y ago
To add it's not just languages. I was once assigned to teach Cognos a BI tool that's been around a while. I was given the instructor's manuals to go through. It was then I realised how incredible sophisticated the software was and I also realised most people didn't even use 50% of the software's capabilities. I have found the same with text editors and IDEs. You can use an editor for five years and still continue to discover new features.
- saurik 4y ago
  I have been programming for over 30 years now, and one thing I consider myself an expert in is bash... hell: the (original) author of bash is someone I have known well and used to work for, and he considers me an expert in bash (which is probably another example of this in and of itself), and I once spent a couple months writing my own bash-compatible shell replacement for various reasons with him on the sidelines cheering me on. Well: I have recently been teaching programming to a 10-year old kid, and this morning he told me about the syntax {X..Y}, which expands to the range of characters between X and Y. I have likely typed {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9} a thousand times and now I know you can write {0..9}. I was floored and have it on my todo list tomorrow to see if that is a new feature or if I simply somehow missed it in the man page--which I thought I had carefully read multiple times and which I additionally have skimmed many times--consistently for decades :(.

greyhair 4y ago

This. Completely. I have 38 yoe but I still encounter young people with fresh ideas. Keep that open mind. I have met some old engineers that turned into grumps (don't be one of them) but most of the older technical people I work with regularly find joy, both in their work, and through their coworkers.