I'm sorry, but I find many points of this post toxic and the primary reason that our field is bathed in burnout. The "ditch everything that doesn't make you better" mentality along with the "eat, exercise and think positive" leads to the propagation of the "lean mean machine" developer who codes all day long, striving for success only stopping to do a couple of pushups and eat some avocado toast.
Many points here can be helpful, especially the ones on code and teamwork, however, I find that they all point in the same direction I mentioned above. In my opinion, it creates an overly competitive playing field where you are looked down upon if you are not spending all your free time coding, reading and doing side projects. This can and will negatively impact many groups and individuals, from minorities, parents, casual workers and all the way to insecure or depressed people, young and old, who start measuring their value as human beings solely on their professional development.
Furthermore, this kind of thinking incentivises companies (especially big ones) to ask their developers for more and more. More working hours, no education on company time ("just read about the new technology we need for our project while you are at home, you have to work now") and ever higher expectations. Just think about the concept of an "always improving developer" and ask yourself of how many professions we expect something similar? Everybody except developers, medical personel and CEOs gets a 9 to 5 and a chance to not think about their work once they walk out the door.
So, if you are a workaholic or someone who has minimal hobbies, responsibilities or relationships, someone who has the time and aspiration to turn oneself into a coding machine and be happy living that way, all the more power to you - that's great. But before you go preaching about it as the only right approach, remember that this is not necessarily a "path available to everyone" and that a wide adoption of such an approach leads to managers increasing working hours, not enabling education on company time and generally putting a lot of people at risk of burnout.
Finally, I'm not saying that we shouldn't all strive to do our best and improve as much as we can. I'm just saying that we should be careful about setting standards which a lot of people cannot reach for one reason or another.
Yeah, I also have mixed feelings about this post. Everyone learns differently and is able to become successful differently. There isn't a single path set in stone. For example, I find that if I code , when learning new technologies, more than 3 hours straight and push too hard it becomes counter productive, and thats my 110% ,which could look very different than someone else's 110%.
Also, when coding and hitting a wall, I often forget about it , go watch TV, listen music or do something else and when I come back to it later , I am able to tackle the problem and often solve it. So classifying watching TV as a waste of time is kind of judgy and condescending.
Overall, number #6 was my favorite one. Success is not an overnight event. LITTLE BY LITTLE , A LITTLE BECOMES A LOT.
This is a very, very complementary point of view! ❤️
I am very sorry that the article left the impression that we should give all our energy and time to become successful programmers. On the contrary, my point is that we should rest a lot, sleep well, and have a meaningful relationship with friends and family. It is a healthy and happy life that is the key to success, and not only in the field of programming.
I emphasize once again that I do not promote careerism and the idea of workaholism. I am definitely against what employers would demand to work overtime. A tired programmer is a bad programmer. I am for passion and desire to become better in what you do and tried to convey these ideas in these 22 tips.
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I'm sorry, but I find many points of this post toxic and the primary reason that our field is bathed in burnout. The "ditch everything that doesn't make you better" mentality along with the "eat, exercise and think positive" leads to the propagation of the "lean mean machine" developer who codes all day long, striving for success only stopping to do a couple of pushups and eat some avocado toast.
Many points here can be helpful, especially the ones on code and teamwork, however, I find that they all point in the same direction I mentioned above. In my opinion, it creates an overly competitive playing field where you are looked down upon if you are not spending all your free time coding, reading and doing side projects. This can and will negatively impact many groups and individuals, from minorities, parents, casual workers and all the way to insecure or depressed people, young and old, who start measuring their value as human beings solely on their professional development.
Furthermore, this kind of thinking incentivises companies (especially big ones) to ask their developers for more and more. More working hours, no education on company time ("just read about the new technology we need for our project while you are at home, you have to work now") and ever higher expectations. Just think about the concept of an "always improving developer" and ask yourself of how many professions we expect something similar? Everybody except developers, medical personel and CEOs gets a 9 to 5 and a chance to not think about their work once they walk out the door.
So, if you are a workaholic or someone who has minimal hobbies, responsibilities or relationships, someone who has the time and aspiration to turn oneself into a coding machine and be happy living that way, all the more power to you - that's great. But before you go preaching about it as the only right approach, remember that this is not necessarily a "path available to everyone" and that a wide adoption of such an approach leads to managers increasing working hours, not enabling education on company time and generally putting a lot of people at risk of burnout.
Finally, I'm not saying that we shouldn't all strive to do our best and improve as much as we can. I'm just saying that we should be careful about setting standards which a lot of people cannot reach for one reason or another.
Yeah, I also have mixed feelings about this post. Everyone learns differently and is able to become successful differently. There isn't a single path set in stone. For example, I find that if I code , when learning new technologies, more than 3 hours straight and push too hard it becomes counter productive, and thats my 110% ,which could look very different than someone else's 110%.
Also, when coding and hitting a wall, I often forget about it , go watch TV, listen music or do something else and when I come back to it later , I am able to tackle the problem and often solve it. So classifying watching TV as a waste of time is kind of judgy and condescending.
Overall, number #6 was my favorite one. Success is not an overnight event. LITTLE BY LITTLE , A LITTLE BECOMES A LOT.
This is a very, very complementary point of view! ❤️
I am very sorry that the article left the impression that we should give all our energy and time to become successful programmers. On the contrary, my point is that we should rest a lot, sleep well, and have a meaningful relationship with friends and family. It is a healthy and happy life that is the key to success, and not only in the field of programming.
I emphasize once again that I do not promote careerism and the idea of workaholism. I am definitely against what employers would demand to work overtime. A tired programmer is a bad programmer. I am for passion and desire to become better in what you do and tried to convey these ideas in these 22 tips.