If you want to reassure them, it should also be through your ability to learn, not by pretending to know what you don’t. In this way, your reputation will be based on your ability to learn, not on what you already know. The easiest way to expose ignorance is to ask questions.

People often disguise their ignorance by pretending to know a great deal about their field. But they forget that knowledge is acquired by knowing one’s own ignorance. Knowing your ignorance, and then study hard to improve your knowledge reserve, is a craftsman needs to have and cultivate the basic quality. Because no one can know all the knowledge in their field, it is through their own ignorance and facing their own ignorance that you can truly achieve the omniscience you need to achieve. It takes a certain amount of courage to recognize and face your ignorance correctly. But in the show you will find that often standing on top of the people they will be very open to accepting their own ignorance, and open to learning. Often it is the people who are afraid to face their ignorance that have little knowledge of their own territory.

Pick a skill, tool, or technique and actively fill in the knowledge gaps associated with it. Do it in the way that works best for you. For some, the best approach may be to read all the literature and FAQs available to get an overview. Others may feel that building a “crunchy toy” is the most effective way to understand something. Whichever method works for you, don’t forget to ask around with your “peers” and mentors to see if anyone has already mastered the skill and is willing to share what they’ve learned. Sometimes others may be learning the skill, and you’ll progress faster by working with them. At some point, you will have reached a satisfactory level of competence in this new area, and you can decide whether it is more productive to dig deeper or to turn your attention to other skill gaps. With only 24 hours in a day, you can’t grind every skill to a very high level, so you have to learn to make the necessary tradeoffs between them.

It’s not just about conquering previously unknown peaks, it’s about carving out a new path, step by step.

From the blog haorusong by and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

For this week’s blog post, one pattern that stood out to me the most was “Your First Language” I believe that the first language will be the most important one for our careers because for the next few years this will be the main language, we use to solve problems or practice to improve.  My first language technically was HTML that I learned back in a web design class at High School, but my first official language is Java from our CS 140 class. From that class and onward I have been using java for almost everything even for personal projects or in other classes.

As I was reading the rest of the article, I came across a sentence how the author states, “For several years, your first language will be the framework against which you learn other languages. The better you know your first language, the easier it will be to learn your next language.” I believe this is very true, your first language will be the foundation for the rest of the languages you will be learning. I remember when we had the CS 282 class in which we learned the C language, it was much easier for me to learn the concepts faster because I had a good understanding of the first language. Another concept that I thought was interesting is about how your first language can prevent you from learning and using other languages, the author states that “One danger of digging deep into your first language is getting stuck. It likely will remain with you throughout your career as your native tongue.” I agree with this statement, having good proficiency in one language can indeed prevent you from learning and using other languages. However, it is good to have a diverse knowledge of languages, especially in software development as each language provides an opportunity to solve problems using different paradigms.

I agree with all the statements about this pattern, it is important to look back and see that starting from “your first language” now we are all learning and getting used to different languages. Especially for me, I have been trying to learn Python since most of the companies use it nowadays and, R to analyze different types of data which I find quite interesting.

From the blog Derin's CS Journey by and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Despite your inexperience and precisely because of your inexperience, you bring some unique qualities to the team, including infectious passion. Don’t let anyone dampen your excitement about software craftsmanship, it’s a valuable asset that will accelerate your learning. As a software developer, you will inevitably be part of a team and work on that basis. In any organizational structure, there is a tendency to conform to norms, especially for new people. Most teams don’t have an overheated passion for technology. To be sure, they are all focused on delivering the next project or improving some aspect of the software development cycle that is giving them headaches. As a result, passionate apprentices often succumb to outside pressure to keep a low profile. They either repress their passion entirely or let it manifest itself only in the absence of routine work. Unleashing passion in a relatively well-established team is, of course, risky. If morale is low or the team doesn’t welcome new people, you may get a dirty look behind your back. For those who believe that competence is more important than the ability to learn, there is no doubt that you will leave a bad impression, especially if you expose your ignorance. Like any model, this one should not be applied blindly. Team dynamics are always a consideration. If you find yourself in a group that doesn’t embrace your passion, then you’ll need to do something to nurture it.

Diversity of ideas should be seen as a key element of collective intelligence. An intriguing study of the collective psychology of aircraft carrier fleets shows that newcomers play an important role in the complex, coordinated operations required to safely maneuver a giant ship from which fighters constantly take off and land. The researchers found that a team made up of people with different levels of experience was healthier. When different levels of experience are correlating, for example, when novices with nothing “taken for granted” interact more frequently with old-timers who think they’ve seen the whole picture, everyone’s understanding of the problem deepens. It is true that in a healthy community it is good to be polymorphic.

As you transition into the role of a journeyman, you will become less dependent on those skills and gradually others will start hiring you based on your reputation, the projects you’ve worked on before, and the deeper qualities you bring to the team.

Expertise is a byproduct of the long journey we have taken, but not a destination.

Pursue excellence and success will find you. — Three Idiots

From the blog haorusong by and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

I always feel that if you are better at the first language, the easier it is to learn the next one.

I learned Java in my sophomore year, and then I went to learn C, which felt easy. Because the logic of computer language is interchangeable. For example, if you learn English well, you will find some similarities between French and Spanish. Although French and Spanish maybe your second language, you will learn them much faster than non-proficient English learners. I think this applies to computer language learning as well.

Each language gives you the opportunity to use different patterns to solve problems. In the process of moving beyond your first language, you should look for opportunities to learn languages that approach problems in very different ways. Apprentices who are comfortable with object-oriented languages should explore Functional’s programming language. Students of dynamic typing should delve into static typing. Apprentices comfortable with server-side programming should take a look at user interface design.

You should not be “married” to any particular technology but should have a broad enough technical background and experience base to be able to choose the right solution for a particular situation.

Many people say Java is good because it is suitable for many kinds of software programming. Some people also say that C++ is good because its language is more advanced than Java; there are also people who have learned that learning C++ to learn Java or very simple. I personally hate to talk about what language is best, every use situation has a language that works best for it. Or if you have learned your first language well, mastering it is also a good option. But there are certain situations where C really has the best solution than Java, so we write our software in C. At this point, there is no need to stubbornly think that I am good at Java and I have to use the language I am good at to solve this problem. 

The spirit of craftsmanship is that you strive for the best in what you are good at, but in certain situations, we can’t stick to the rules. Modern society is a utilitarian society, we need to maintain the spirit of artisans while learning to adapt to the society.

From the blog haorusong by and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.