We can all benefit from writing random “toy” programs to push ourselves to the limit by setting artificial limits. — Donald Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming

If you can learn as much from failure as you can from success, you need a relatively private space to look for the loss. In balling acrobatics, a performer who tosses three balls will never progress if he has never tossed five. Those who spend hours picking dropped balls until their back hurts eventually get good at it. The same lesson applies to software, where software workers often need to step out of their comfort zone to try something they’re not good at it. It is by taking bold chances again and again that you improve your skills, that you learn and grow from failure after failure. Just as a three-ball-tossing performer does not throw five balls in a formal performance, software developers often make mistakes in new areas. Software developers also need a safe place to make mistakes. It’s terrible not to have such a safe place to make mistakes. The fear and unwillingness of software developers to make mistakes make them stuck in a rut, unable to learn from failure, and thus makes the entire software development industry staid and stagnant.

Other examples of the “crunchy toy” pattern include games like Tetris and Tic-Tac-Toe. One senior I know has a habit of using every new language he learns to create a game, blog software, and IRC client. The nature of the problem is to build a toy that contains learning something new and provides an opportunity to let you in a special environment to deepen the understanding of hand tools. The environment is not only safe because you are the only or most influential users, and, even to the most powerful commercial products, you still have room to serve you as a user’s needs better.

You still have to remember that they’re just toys, and that’s why they’re supposed to be fun. If they’re not interesting, then when the initial excitement is over, they’ll just become a dusty relic, and you’ll be able to focus your energy on what you enjoy building.

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

 We can all benefit from writing random “toy” programs to push ourselves to the limit by setting artificial limits. — Donald Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming

If you can learn as much from failure as you can from success, you need a relatively private space to look for the loss. In balling acrobatics, a performer who tosses three balls will never progress if he has never tossed five. Those who spend hours picking dropped balls until their back hurts eventually get good at it. The same lesson applies to software, where software workers often need to step out of their comfort zone to try something they’re not good at it. It is by taking bold chances again and again that you improve your skills, that you learn and grow from failure after failure. Just as a three-ball-tossing performer does not throw five balls in a formal performance, software developers often make mistakes in new areas. Software developers also need a safe place to make mistakes. It’s terrible not to have such a safe place to make mistakes. The fear and unwillingness of software developers to make mistakes make them stuck in a rut, unable to learn from failure, and thus makes the entire software development industry staid and stagnant.

Other examples of the “crunchy toy” pattern include games like Tetris and Tic-Tac-Toe. One senior I know has a habit of using every new language he learns to create a game, blog software, and IRC client. The nature of the problem is to build a toy that contains learning something new and provides an opportunity to let you in a special environment to deepen the understanding of hand tools. The environment is not only safe because you are the only or most influential users, and, even to the most powerful commercial products, you still have room to serve you as a user’s needs better.

You still have to remember that they’re just toys, and that’s why they’re supposed to be fun. If they’re not interesting, then when the initial excitement is over, they’ll just become a dusty relic, and you’ll be able to focus your energy on what you enjoy building.

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

There is a saying in China: Better be the tail of a lion than a fox’s head! There is another saying: Better be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix.

Surround yourself with developers who are better than you. Find a more robust team where you can be the weakest member and have room to grow. In the beginning, you may not feel confident in your life, but the process of developing and learning in the workplace that makes you stronger is lovely. In this society, no one will care how beautiful and challenging your strategy is. The most important thing is the result. Have you grown and become stronger during this period of enduring learning?

Remember, the probability of being rejected or thought strange by a potential mentor is not high, and the potential payoff is enormous. Even if the person isn’t interested in taking you on as a full-time apprentice, asking her out to lunch can be a valuable investment of time and money, like why dinner with Warren Buffett was auctioned off at such a high price. An early-stage businessman, or an established businessman who has achieved success in a particular field, is all vying for this opportunity. Do they care about the meal? No, they need to learn something from talking to Buffett. Such as looking at the market, investment vision, and the future development trend of business. In computer learning, the principle is the same. By talking with the people above us or the successful people, we can get the information and direction beneficial to our future development. Opportunities are for those prepared, and the accumulation of experience and insight in life will make you soar when opportunities come.

Ask lots of questions.

Tasks such as maintaining build systems, product support, responding to maintenance requirements, bug fixes, code reviews, eliminating technical debt, creating project wikis, updating documentation, acting as a sounding board for other people’s ideas, and so on. Typically, you focus on the less risky edges of the system rather than the core, which often has many dependencies and a lot of complexity. Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger look at apprenticeships in different industries and find that “in the workflow, the tasks of a novitiate are often placed at the end of a branch, rather than in the middle of a series of clips of work” (Situational Learning, p. 110). These fringe tasks benefit the team and you as an apprentice, as they are often skipped in school classes and fill in the gaps. The experience still helps when you become a skilled worker because many of your mentors understand how important it is to do the tedious work. After all, if no one cleans the floor, the team can’t do the glamorous work because it is Mired in a mess.

What’s the most grubby task your team has been putting off for months? It should be the one that everyone complains about, and nobody wants to fix. You solve it. Don’t hold your nose and force yourself to do it; See if you can solve the problem creatively in a way that exceeds people’s expectations and is fun for you. Many people feel that this is a job that is not worth their time. If you don’t do well, you will help the team take the blame. If you do well, the team will take the credit. But you grow as you solve what the team can’t do.

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

There is a saying in China: Better be the tail of a lion than a fox’s head! There is another saying: Better be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix.

Surround yourself with developers who are better than you. Find a more robust team where you can be the weakest member and have room to grow. In the beginning, you may not feel confident in your life, but the process of developing and learning in the workplace that makes you stronger is lovely. In this society, no one will care how beautiful and challenging your strategy is. The most important thing is the result. Have you grown and become stronger during this period of enduring learning?

Remember, the probability of being rejected or thought strange by a potential mentor is not high, and the potential payoff is enormous. Even if the person isn’t interested in taking you on as a full-time apprentice, asking her out to lunch can be a valuable investment of time and money, like why dinner with Warren Buffett was auctioned off at such a high price. An early-stage businessman, or an established businessman who has achieved success in a particular field, is all vying for this opportunity. Do they care about the meal? No, they need to learn something from talking to Buffett. Such as looking at the market, investment vision, and the future development trend of business. In computer learning, the principle is the same. By talking with the people above us or the successful people, we can get the information and direction beneficial to our future development. Opportunities are for those prepared, and the accumulation of experience and insight in life will make you soar when opportunities come.

Ask lots of questions.

Tasks such as maintaining build systems, product support, responding to maintenance requirements, bug fixes, code reviews, eliminating technical debt, creating project wikis, updating documentation, acting as a sounding board for other people’s ideas, and so on. Typically, you focus on the less risky edges of the system rather than the core, which often has many dependencies and a lot of complexity. Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger look at apprenticeships in different industries and find that “in the workflow, the tasks of a novitiate are often placed at the end of a branch, rather than in the middle of a series of clips of work” (Situational Learning, p. 110). These fringe tasks benefit the team and you as an apprentice, as they are often skipped in school classes and fill in the gaps. The experience still helps when you become a skilled worker because many of your mentors understand how important it is to do the tedious work. After all, if no one cleans the floor, the team can’t do the glamorous work because it is Mired in a mess.

What’s the most grubby task your team has been putting off for months? It should be the one that everyone complains about, and nobody wants to fix. You solve it. Don’t hold your nose and force yourself to do it; See if you can solve the problem creatively in a way that exceeds people’s expectations and is fun for you. Many people feel that this is a job that is not worth their time. If you don’t do well, you will help the team take the blame. If you do well, the team will take the credit. But you grow as you solve what the team can’t do.

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