It's amazing to me how effective it is just to write down these things.
I'm planning to rebuild my deck and I've been thinking and brainstorming for days. But just the act of writing down the step by step order of what is already in my head made me discover all kinds of holes in my plan.
There's a magic there. You can be convinced you know something intimately but if you write it all down I almost guarantee you'll find holes.
Somewhat related but it is amazing how clear things become to me when I draw a diagram about something I have to learn or build. Make visual connections leads to an immediate deeper understanding. It has become second nature for me to start up my diagramming app the moment I don't understand something
> Code is secondary. Business value is first.
I wish I could shout this from a mountaintop. If there's one thing I could change about engineering culture it would be this. But then again I would lose my edge if everyone understood this, so maybe it's best that they don't
Engineers: If you want to stand out in your career - take this to heart. Code is not the goal. Money is the goal, code is a tool to get the money. You work in a capitalistic business, whether you like it or not. Push your colleagues to build the thing that makes the business the most money, not the thing that is the "best" engineering solution. You will get tons of pushback on this - but eventually your pushing will bubble up to someone who works in "the business" (directors, executives, etc) and not just other engineers and they will invariably support you. This is your contrarian view now. This is your answer to Peter Thiel's question "What important truth do very few people agree with you on?". And you will thank me in 10 years.
Rather this:
> Code is secondary. People are first
This is easily overlooked. Your social skills matter most. Leading, listening, communication. Most problems are people problems.