Studying the work of masters is an essential part of becoming amaster.
Always be the worst guy in every band you are in.
You can’t creatively help a business until you know how it works.
Your skills should transcend technology platform.
If you want to really learn something, try teaching it to someone else.
Athletes push themselves to the limit during workouts so they can expand those limits for the real performances. They let the ugliness happen behind closed doors – not when they’re actually working.
You do not win a race by trying not to loose.
Take calculated risks with your career. Don’t let fear consume you. And if you’re not having fun, you’re not going to be excellent.
Because we all make mistakes, we also know that everyone else makes mistakes. So, within reason, we don’t judge each other on the mistakes we make. We judge each other on how we deal with those inevitable mistakes.
The easiest way to never get anything done is to never commit to anything.
I don’t know” is not a phrase for the insecure.
Be courageous enough to be honest.
With credibility comes influence.
A generation ago, fun wasn’t a deciding factor when we talked about career choices. Jobs aren’t supposed to be fun. They’re supposed to bring home the bacon. Fun is what you do on your off days. Fun happens in the evenings and weekends. But if your job isn’t fun, as we’ve come to realize, you don’t do a fantastic job at it.
Set your sights higher. Don’t think of yourself as a programmer at a specific company – after all, it’s not likely that you’ll be at the same place forever – but as a participating member of an industry. You are a craftsperson or an artist. You have something to share beyond the expense-reporting application you’re developing for your human resources department or the bugs you’ve got stacked up in your company’s issue-tracking system.
Without a role model, there’s no incentive to get better.