1. Working for a couple of small startups in the early years, which meant writing code 8 hours a day for 6 years and being responsible for delivering not just f

1. Working for a couple of small startups in the early years, which meant writing code 8 hours a day for 6 years and being responsible for delivering not just features but full products to users from the very first year. If my first job had been at a larger company, filled with meetings and processes, I never would have built up strong confidence writing code, coming up with solutions and building things. 2. Starting out 20+ years ago, when Googling the answer wasn't possible also played a huge part. Coupled with a 1 above, it meant that the only way to solve a problem or to work out how to do something was to work through it over hours and days myself. My early solutions to unusual problems or tech shortcomings were not always ideal, but they always worked. Both of these helped build up confidence in my own abilities, a knowledge that there's no problem I couldn't solve, and the certainty that I was fully capable of building whatever I wanted or needed to build.