

HN: The distress of a young padawan. (rant) - Arkanin

Warning: rant.<p>I have an MIS degree from a mediocre university, but I am quite smart, and I am doing my best to become a good IT professional. I am doing extremely well at my company, but some day I could be a real master at something.<p>Here is my problem. I'm learning stuff -- doesn’t matter what -- and trying to pull myself up by the bootstraps. I have to if I want real mastery. For me, personally, I want to become great at something so badly it becomes emotional. Most newer developers are asking for technical advice. "Why won't my code compile", "Why is this outer join slow" (heh). I almost never do that, I figure it out for myself.<p>Meanwhile, I'm quitting smoking (6 mos. by the way) while I try to do exercises to improve my memory and reading comprehension because college never asked me to cope with those personal failings, but my job did. I’m smart, but I have faults in the way I learn and other personal problems. I feel like if I want to become good I can sit here on my laurels and keep grinding away, but if I want to become great I have to change my entire life.<p>The thing is, right now I have no mentors and nobody seems to be aware of what I'm struggling through or has been through this process on their own. I don’t know anyone that has ever wanted to change as badly as I do and succeeded. I feel like if my IQ was in the genius instead of just very bright range or if I graduated from MIT instead of a Tech school, I could someday command actual respect about some kind of technology without completely overhauling my life. But I’m not. Yet I want to be.<p>Can any of you remember what this feels like, as a young developer with no credibility? Have you ever been there? Can you just empathise?<p>I go online and see the most brilliant people who know so much, and they are all older than me, and brighter than most of the folks at my company. It's terrifying to witness their level of understanding and realize that someday, I must follow in their footsteps.<p>To the online developer communities -- is there a way I can start building my online credibility as a worthwhile developer / IT Professional without 20 years of experience? Is there a way I can prove I'm at least promising enough not to be dismissed by reasonably intelligent people?<p>How do you guys find MENTORS and ROLE MODELS? I want to be great. Right now, I'm above average and exasperated. Can you relate?
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DanielStraight
I've never once checked someone's credentials to assess their credibility. I
assess credibility by whether the person in question writes/speaks correctly,
clearly and creatively.

I know nothing of Jon Skeet's credentials, but he still commands respect
because his answers on SO are almost always correct, clear and creative. He
doesn't answer when he doesn't have anything to say, and when he does answer,
he not only answers the question but answers the questions that his answer
will raise. Who he _is_ doesn't matter. What he _does_ matters.

I don't imagine I'm atypical in judging the credibility of developers. If this
is how we judge the credibility of others, why do you expect your credibility
would be judged differently? How do you start building your online
credibility? Start having something creative to say and saying it correctly
and clearly. For me at least, that's all there is to it.

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scorpioxy
Welcome to the club.

In my opinion, anybody who's trying to become better at what they do probably
start out feeling this way. I know I did, and I still do sometimes.

Your level of skill and the fact that you're working hard at becoming better
at this is what will earn you respect among people. Nobody worthwhile will
dismiss you because you're just starting out. Nobody was born knowing this
stuff, they all worked hard to it.

I can certainly relate to not being content with your current position.
Knowing fully that you don't have to exert a lot of effort to become good. Its
not enough, you want to become great. Uncontrolled, this can become
destructive behavior though, so watch out.

Personally, I think you're on the right path. Just remember to stop and smell
the roses every once in a while.

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regularfry
"I feel like if my IQ was in the genius instead of just very bright range or
if I graduated from MIT instead of a Tech school, I could someday..."

Stop that. Right now. Many of the great people you look up to aren't smarter
than you, many of them didn't go to the right college. They just worked hard,
and worked smart, for long enough. What you're doing here is identifying an
external excuse to psychologically allow yourself to fail. I apologise if this
seems harsh, but it's true.

It also comes across as really, really whiny.

The only option you've got is just to get on with it. Stop worrying about
being a master, or being great - just concentrate on being better than you
were yesterday. The rest will sort itself out.

~~~
Arkanin
I just want to say you're right. For some reason the up arrow is gone and I
can't upvote you. But you're right.

If I am reasonably bright, I am capable of learning if I work hard. I _don't_
have an excuse to fail. Period. There are reasons promising people fail --
they realize, perhaps, that they aren't going after what they really want, or
a serious external crisis occurs, or they feel entitled because everyone used
to tell them they're smart -- but as long as I am aware of, there are no
excuses for falling into those traps.

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lsc
move around. If your current place does not have people who are significantly
better than you are, get another job elsewhere. Repeat until you are
surrounded by people who are better than you are.

Develop humility. (False humility is almost always good enough.) remember, If
you have not gotten into a place full of people better than you, then you have
failed the previous goal. In the technical side of things, almost always it is
best to error on the side of humility. (the opposite is true on the business
side of things.)

talking about your accomplishments is okay, but it's usually good to
acknowledge that you are just learning, or otherwise downplay it.

Ask what you can do to help try to be useful. There are many good people who
actively look for mentors. The hard part is finding them.

If you do find someone good willing to help you out, take advantage of it.
When I was a little younger than you, I got to work with Paul Vixie. My great
regret is that I did not take advantage of the situation as much as I could
have; he was willing to mentor me a lot more than I took advantage of. there
is a place for doing it all yourself (and certainly, that is the only way to
go if you can't find good mentors.) but if you find good people willing to
help you, let them help you.

And lastly, choose a mentor who really is better than you. Getting mentored by
a mediocre has, eh, mediocre value.

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plinkplonk
"Can any of you remember what this feels like, as a young developer with no
credibility? Have you ever been there? Can you just empathise?"

I still feel like this often after 17 years of professional programming. Don't
worry about it.

"How do you guys find MENTORS and ROLE MODELS?"

The internet allows you to learn from the best. Peter Norvig, Paul Graham ,
john Carmack, Linus Torvalds( my role models in programming , you may choose
others) all have code and prose online. Dive in.

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DanielBMarkham
Yes. (puts on coach uniform)

I started with nothing -- no degree, no money, no job, no home. Nothing.

Here's what you do: forget the role models and mentors. By the time you find
them life will have passed you by. Or you'll get one and he/she will turn out
to be a dud. Instead learn to read boring books. Not only read them, but learn
to read them and get something out of them.

Then go on a reading spree.

Pick a topic that seems hard to you. I think my first one was Object-Oriented
Programming. Something that "real" professionals would know.

Get 6-10 books on that topic. Make it a point to finish them all within 4
months.

Do this a few times. Whatever you do, pick what you think you need to move up.
Don't stick with a narrow area. One of my excursions was negotiating. One was
marketing. I spent a summer learning C++. I just finished up a sprint with
functional programming. I tried to concentrate on the things in which I was
weak, assuming my strengths would take care of themselves.

Do this, and I guarantee you that within a couple of years, you'll be moving
out/up/on.

But it's hard work. And (smart) hard work, padawan, is what separates the real
achievers from the stuck-in-the-same-job complainers. Now let's get out there
and kick some ass!

(takes coach uniform off)

~~~
sz
Here's a starting point:

[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1711/what-is-the-
single-m...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1711/what-is-the-single-most-
influential-book-every-programmer-should-read)

~~~
DanielBMarkham
Code Complete rocks. It's easily in the top 20 books for any developer. Maybe
top 5

Having said that, remember the idea is to stick with a theme, so if you choose
good coding, do "Clean Code" by Uncle Bob a few other books along the same
lines.

~~~
scorpioxy
Offtopic, but you know I never really thought Code Complete was that
inspirational. But that's probably because i read it after having worked for a
few years in the industry and seeing my fair share of bad code and legacy
systems.

Of course it was still a good read, and the topics covered were well
researched, but not really a life changer for me. Did anyone else feel the
same way? It seems that everywhere I go, people say this is THE book to read.

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mthomas
I would start attending a user group. Linux, Java, functional programming if
you can find one, any group with users that are passionate about technology
outside of work. At the very least, you should be able to find like minded
people.

