
Ask HN: What did you learn as an early engineer? - whitenoice
Was it worth it?
Now that you have gone through it, would you have done it any different?
Were there things that would have helped you if you would have known it early on?
======
davismwfl
Things I wish I would have listened to/learned better early on.

1\. Don't overthink the problem.

2\. Don't try to engineer for the unknown, work with what you know and what is
specified. You can't plan for anything else, no matter how good you think you
are. As stuff pops up, address it then. Be brutally clear about this to your
employer/client.

3\. Nothing beats experience, but execution. Even if you have a ton of
experience, but don't execute it doesn't matter. In fact, experience sometimes
cripples people into not executing quick enough, usually because they are
trying to think through things too much. Basically, don't let your brain get
in the way.

4\. What zerodefex said is really pretty accurate. What a hacker would produce
is a lot like what you produce when you have some experience but aren't trying
to impress anyone or think through all possibilities.

5\. Done is better then perfect.

~~~
zer0defex
+1 on the point about execution. So true.

------
zer0defex
Knowledge != Experience. Education, Sex, Race, pffh - all bullshit -
experience trumps all of it. Top talent doesn't need bullshit technicalities
and qualifications to shine and anyone that uses any of the above to tear
others down has hit the glass ceiling of their own ability and see no other
way to look good without tearing others down. In day to day life, these people
sometimes seem like they are getting ahead, but in my experience, you can't
escape karma and these folks almost always get weeded out over time (on a
competent team).

I'm sure you've seen the image showing the creation of a simple program and
the variations created during different stages of a programmers career
([http://www.ariel.com.au/jokes/The_Evolution_of_a_Programmer....](http://www.ariel.com.au/jokes/The_Evolution_of_a_Programmer.html)).
You aren't the exception, you will find yourself following this exact
progression in your career.

Oh, and mind your ego, rockstar's aren't worth the trouble if they are a
complete asshole to everyone around them. No one, I repeat, no one, is worth
so much. Also, don't tie your self-worth to your career and job level - it'll
hurt 10x more if and when you get laid off or fired the first time. It's not
personal, it's just business.

Last thing, no matter how valuable you think you may be to the company, the
closer you are to the frontline of bringing new money into the biz and the
easier this correlation is seen by management is the real measure of how
important you are to the company. Sales is the lifeblood of any company, don't
fool yourself into thinking technical ability by itself trumps someone half as
good as you technically but 3x the salesman you are.

~~~
CyberFonic
Yup! Sales is very difficult - you get knocked back at least 10 times for each
sale you do make. Not a career for anybody who craves approval and
recognition.

------
CyberFonic
There are real engineers out there who wear safety boots, hard hats, supervise
100s of tradesmen and labourers. When they screw up it takes millions of
dollars to fix the problem. And yes, they went to university for 4+ years and
did hard subjects like math and physics as well as their advanced subjects in
their specialisation (civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, etc)

Software engineers and IT project managers have it very easy - it is only
through their lack of real world experience that they think that what they do
is hard. Real engineers see them as whinging, precocious pansies.

Once you get over that culture shock, you start appreciating your choice of
software wrangling as a profession.

