Kill your idols. Those people are brilliant and extremely talented at their craft, but like all of us they suffer from the near sightedness that results from de

Kill your idols. Those people are brilliant and extremely talented at their craft, but like all of us they suffer from the near sightedness that results from decades spent in a few especially detailed fields of expertise. And at the end of the day, they're just humans - susceptible to biases as much as anyone else. Of course you want to listen to them and incorporate their ideas and viewpoints; but part of growing as a professional is knowing how to balance that with your own experience and knowledge, and having the courage to say (after thinking long and hard) "this guy is full of shit". DHH's opinion on web frameworks is more valuable than his opinion on game engines. Torvalds' opinion on operating systems is more valuable than his opinion on robotics programming. The same applies to anything you hear from experts. In fact, being in a position of expertise can often lead you into a sense of false certainty about your knowledge: I am a master of X, of course it applies to Y! Well, some insights might, and a few general truths might emerge, but that's the extent of it and it's certainly not systematic.