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Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

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Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#231

Post by nosefrog »

100011_100001 wrote: post #139
nosefrog wrote: post #27

How did you become a more productive developer?

I can go really deep talking about this, so I will just write my personal system pointers that I keep by my desk. Iterate fast > perfect Write it down to relieve cognitive load. Uni-task (focus on one thing at a time) Prioritize and execute. Solve problems by: a. Invert - improve by subtraction b. Decision trees - compare outcomes, reduce load There are two types of decisions. Hard choice (A vs B), or multiple factor…

Can you talk more about your method for solving problems? That's normally where I get stuck.

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#232

Post by pg_bot »

dvt wrote: post #220
pg_bot wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a pretty weird standard that I don't think any other professional would be held to. You can be one of the best programmers in the world and be completely anonymous.

I disagree. Like all disciplines, programming/software engineering at its apex is fundamentally a collaborative one. There are no "hermit" mathematicians or physicists. Ideas necessarily must be bounced around and refined.

Ramanujan, Perelman, Grothendieck, Gödel, Nakamoto, Heaviside...

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#234

Post by flappyeagle »

Pick a couple of promising juniors to mentor. Commit less code. Work through them. Rotate occasionally when one of them reaches escape velocity or proves to be a letdown.

Let your manager know about this plan and get their buy-in. It’s healthier for the org to have fewer single points of failure

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#235

Post by rexpop »

100011_100001 wrote: post #33
ziddoap wrote: post #21

“If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.” I know saying this is easier than doing it, but; seek upward movement until you no longer feel like you're the smartest person in the room. I would also add, although it's purely personal opinion, that seeking a solution to loneliness through work is a surefire way to feel more lonely. You say you're big on self-improvement, but are you only focus…

I've thought about this. I actually do not think I'm the smartest person in the room, hell two of the people in my direct team are definitely smarter than me. I think I have really good systems that allow me to consistently solve problems and write code. On the loneliness front, I meant in the scope of working. I have four kids, I am everything BUT lonely with them. However, I do agree that aside from work and one of…

> I have four kids, I am everything BUT lonely with them.

This is inadequate. Adults need "love" and companionship from adults in our lives. The love of children is inadequate; we must also have strong ties with buddies, pals, compatriots, and colleagues for mental health.

Children can never fully deplete adult loneliness.

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#236

Post by dvt »

pg_bot wrote: post #232
dvt wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Like all disciplines, programming/software engineering at its apex is fundamentally a collaborative one. There are no "hermit" mathematicians or physicists. Ideas necessarily must be bounced around and refined.

Ramanujan, Perelman, Grothendieck, Gödel, Nakamoto, Heaviside...

Don't confuse "formal training" with working in a vacuum (re: Ramanujan, Heaviside, etc.), all others are basically world-famous academics that went through typical doctoral programs and were in constant communication with their fellow academics; I mean, Godel's correspondence with von Neumann is extremely famous, and the same goes for Ramanujan's correspondence with Hardy.

The age of the hermit polymath has been over for half a millennium.

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#237

Post by dvt »

wvenable wrote: post #227
dvt wrote: post #151

Imo you can't be a 10x+ developer without extracurricular activities. That is: writing books, academic papers, OSS contributions, GitHub projects with 100+ stars, blogging, conference talks, being in the top ~5% of Stack Overflow, etc. Merely "being good at your job" is just the baseline (and often not even an important one; rockstar engineers get fired often; Max Howell was famously not hired by Google; etc.). Not t…

Anyone with that many extracurricular activities almost definition can't be a 10x developer. Producing books, papers, open source contributions, conference talks, contributing massively to Stack Overflow is doing a lot of things that aren't software development. As they say, those that can't do teach -- and you're describing the latter.

Hard disagree, as we have plenty of counter-examples here: from John Skeet, to John Carmack, to Max Howell, to Vitalik Buterin.

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#238

Post by rco8786 »

ctvo wrote: post #16

I think you're an above average developer working at a below average company. This could be the root of all your problems. Nothing is more frustrating than working with peers you know aren't carrying their weight. Do you want to be an engineering leader? This is what you are, regardless of your official title at your company. Engineering leaders are judged by how much better they make everyone else. You may hear the…

> I think you're an above average developer working at a below average company

Nailed it

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