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The Right Mindset To Solve Complex Problems

Tomer Raitz on August 07, 2021

Hi all, I know that all of my articles are very technical. This time I will talk about something a little bit different, more abstract - the minds...
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destynova profile image
Oisín

"For example, I know that one of my weaknesses is trying many things myself without asking for help." -- this can slow you down in the short term, but on the other hand it's a sign of a learning mindset, where you try to figure things out yourself rather than getting bailed out whenever things get difficult. I prefer to err on the side of trying to solve things with minimal assistance for that reason, although of course it depends on the situation.

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Tomer Raitz

Thank you @destynova for your kind words! I think you are right, but there is one point I want to emphasize. As you said, the learning mindset is critical for developers, and you should always be in this mindset. But, in "real life" (businesses), you should be careful with it. As I wrote in the "Importance of critical thinking with the right mindset" section - you need to see what the mindset you are in and how it impacts your work. So I still think it is a weakness - not for myself as you said, rather for the company I work for. I genuinely believe for maximizing the "right mindset," you should recognize your weaknesses.

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destynova profile image
Oisín

Fair point! But I think it's important to step back sometimes and be careful to avoid too much focus on visible short-term gains for the company, since it can result in missing the bigger picture for long-term opportunities and ideas.

I worked in a small startup once, directly interacting with a CTO who constantly said things like "we need some quick wins". Needless to say, I felt immediately under pressure and stopped thinking about long-term possibilities or learning. Within about 3 months of being hired, I decided it was time to leave before things got worse. At that point I realised why people hired before me never seemed to stick around either :D

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Tomer Raitz

Good point I didn't think about it, seems your decision was correct (in my point of view), I wish you good luck :)

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z2lai • Edited

So true, confidence is key to being successful. But people tend to have the reverse mentality - being successful is the key to being confident. Which is why I like the motto: fake it till you make it.

p.s. your gold rush game is awesome!

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Tomer Raitz

Thank you @z2lai , I think your words are gold! It seemed you really understood my point. But in my view, be careful on "fake it till you make it" in programming. There are some paths you are absolutely sure you are on the right way to a solution and it doesn't always work (like my example in the article). I think you need to be flexible and creative with your solution, but I believe you probably understood the point - this process requires confidence :).

p.s thank you very much for playing my game and for your kind words.

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Gilad Bergmann

Amazing!!

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Tomer Raitz

Thank you

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Mostafijur Rahman

Great!!

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Tomer Raitz

Thanks :)

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Chris Mulvany

Great read!

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Tomer Raitz

Thanks :)