Category Archives for "skills"

Patience.

We may think that patience is something we have or don’t…

But patience is a skill. It can be developed and improved.

The more I understand about skills, the more I understand the power of mistakes.

There is a relationship.

You see, when we learn a new tool…
(hammer)
or a new skill
(using a hammer…)
Everything around us seems to need it…
(nails, nails, I see nails everywhere…)

So, when you learn to speak, remember that in fact speaking is NOT the most important.

Sometimes we have a plan…
It is a great plan!
We know what to do and how to finish it…

But then…
For some reason…
(Sometimes something you did…)
(Other times it is out of your control…)

And…
Your well intended plan fails…
Everything comes crashing down,
And you can’t get it to work…

Is “writing a book” a skill?

We sometimes treat as if it is…
“I’d like to write a book, but I’m not good enough at it”.
(I said that many times in my life…)

But it is a dream many people have…
(Plant a tree. Write a book. I’m sure you heard that…)

Have you ever though about writing a book someday?

There is nothing more important for our career than building skills.

It is not about acquiring knowledge.
It is all about acquiring skills.

Skills you only acquire by doing.
Doing projects. Writing code. Solving problems.

Something I discussed a lot this week:
What it means to be a senior.

You see, some people think that seniority is about your technical skills.
Or about a specific technology.

Someone even told me the other day:
you can be a senior in one thing, and a junior in other.

I don’t buy that.

And… Do you think Open Source can help with that?
(That was a question Edson Yanaga asked me this week)

The particular skill Edson was aiming at with his question is the one I think is the most underated of the developer skills…

And probably the most important one…

Few skills are as fundamental as writing is to our careers.

We write code. That’s obvious.

Have you ever though what that means?

“There are two types of people.
Those that create excuses, and those that take action and make things happen.”

I just got an email from Ryan Lavesque, with that phrase.

He also says that “we get to choose what type we will be”.