
Working Hard but reaching nowhere – How should I work hard? - sidcool
I joined this job recently at a well known tech firm where there are super smart people.  10 months in, I have been working quite hard, but not been able to meet the expectations of my team members.  They are awesome people and I hate to let them down.  It seems my hard work isn&#x27;t paying off.<p>Question is &quot;How do you work hard?  What I might be missing?  Feel free to ask my any followup questions.  This situation has left me very low and sad.
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analyst74
It's quite hard to give concrete and useful advices over the Internet with
vague details.

But one technique I see working over and over again across a wide range of
disciplines and industries is this: share your feelings with team lead and/or
some senior colleagues, preferably in a one-on-one conversation. Many will try
to help in some way, some might even become your mentor.

Do not be afraid to show your weakness, and your willingness to improve is
generally a highly valued attitude. If you get in trouble asking for help,
then you are probably surrounded by terrible people and better off with
another job anyways.

~~~
sidcool
Thanks! The people around me are very supportive. They would love to help me.
Thanks for the pointer. I was a bit hesitant is sharing my inability to focus
my energy in areas that would matter. Will talk to my manager, thanks again!

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mikekchar
This is an incredibly difficult question to answer. In fact, in trying to
mentor some of my colleagues I have been asked this very question more than
once.

The best answer I can give you is that you need to find your style as a
programmer. There are things you do well and things you don't do well. On the
one hand, you should train to improve the things you don't do well. On the
other hand you should depend on the things that you do well so that you can
support your team. Getting the balance right is not always easy.

You ask about working "hard" and this word seems to come up frequently when I
am helping someone. If you are focussing on this, then I think you are
treading down a fruitless path. To be frank, there seems to be an assumption
that if you work "hard" you will be successful. This is rarely the case,
although it is true that successful people must work "hard".

To give you an example, I know from experience that no matter how many hours I
put into studying quantum physics, I do not seem to be able to work at the
level that would be needed for a quantum physicist. Frankly, this caused a
considerable amount of anxiety for the younger version of myself. But, to be
honest, I never really wanted to be anything other than a programmer, so it
didn't really matter in the end.

At the beginning of this I said that you have to find your style. As you look
around at the "super smart people" around you, you will find that no matter
how "hard" you work, you can not be like them. That's because you aren't them.
You do not have their skills and abilities. You have your own unique skills
and abilities.

I firmly believe that "anyone can program", in the Ratatouille-esque sense of
"anyone can cook". Not everyone can be a great programmer, but a great
programmer can come from anywhere. What are the things that you are good at?
What are the things that you enjoy doing? When you are "working hard", do you
ever forget to eat?

Hard work does not make you successful. It is rather that there is something
about success that drives you to work hard. Very possibly you are successful
at working hard, but not successful at programming. Forget about working hard,
and concentrate on programming. Do it until you can't do it any longer -- then
sleep (and eat, if you have forgotten to). Then do it again. Every day
program. If this seems like hard work, then find things that don't seem like
hard work.

I hope this helps!

~~~
sidcool
Thanks, this hit right in the gut. Truthful advice. In my case, I do love what
I do, it's just that I cannot feel like I am good at it.

~~~
mikekchar
Personal projects are probably the way forward. Juggling life and personal
projects is hard, but start out small. I'm far from ready to publish widely,
but I have discovered that I can actually program efficiently with one
pomodoro a day: [http://mikekchar.github.io/core-wars-
kata/](http://mikekchar.github.io/core-wars-kata/)

You will note that I haven't actually done much lately as family tragedies and
personal illness have kept me away from the keyboard. But I hope that it will
give you some inspiration that even if you devote a small amount of time you
can move forward.

~~~
sidcool
That will help, thanks a lot!

~~~
mikekchar
Sorry for the late reply (hope you will see it). I wrote this a long time ago,
but I think it might be useful in your current situation:
[http://mikekchar.github.io/portfolio/LanguageAcquisition/](http://mikekchar.github.io/portfolio/LanguageAcquisition/)

Long story short: how do I get to a point where appropriate answer pop into my
head automatically without having to sit there reasoning about it for a long
time.

~~~
sidcool
I did read it. Thanks!

