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Marcus Geduld
There's no such thing as being a great programmer. It doesn't take a long time. It takes an eternal length of time, so it's an impossible goal.
I've been programming for decades, and I'm still not a great programmer, nor will I ever be one. Perhaps I am to some other people, but all that matters to me is how I feel about myself--and all that will ever matter to you is how you feel about yourself.
All the experienced developers I know feel the same way. If I ever met one who thought he'd arrived--who was confident that he was now a great programmer--I wouldn't want to work with him. His arrogance would get us both into trouble.
Programming is a vast field, and it's impossible for anyone to learn it all. Not only that: it's constantly changing. If I rested on what I'd learned so far, I'd be irrelevant in a year or two.
Being a programmer means devoting yourself to a life of learning--not learning so that you'll someday achieve X or Y; learning for the sake of learning. At each point, you'll be better than you were before, and at each point, that will no longer matter to you, because you'll be focused on the stuff you don't know. And that stuff will always be an endless list.
That's not depressing to me; it's exciting to me. If it's depressing to you, don't be a programmer. Seriously. Save yourself from a life of pain. There are many careers--including some rewarding ones--where you can coast after you've learned a bunch of stuff. Programming is not one of those careers.
If I could wave a magic wand and magically immediately make you know everything you'd know if you spent the next ten years studying for hours, you'd feel the same way you feel now. The horizon will always recede ahead of you. Make peace with that. Learn to enjoy that. Or pick a different field.
Your task, if you want to be a programmer, is to learn something today so that you'll be a better programmer tomorrow. That's all you can ever do.
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There's no such thing as being a great programmer. It doesn't take a long time. It takes an eternal length of time, so it's an impossible goal.
I've been programming for decades, and I'm still not a great programmer, nor will I ever be one. Perhaps I am to some other people, but all that matters to me is how I feel about myself--and all that will ever matter to you is how you feel about yourself.
All the experienced developers I know feel the same way. If I ever met one who thought he'd arrived--who was confident that he was now a great programmer--I wouldn't want to work with him. His arrogance would get us both into trouble.
Programming is a vast field, and it's impossible for anyone to learn it all. Not only that: it's constantly changing. If I rested on what I'd learned so far, I'd be irrelevant in a year or two.
Being a programmer means devoting yourself to a life of learning--not learning so that you'll someday achieve X or Y; learning for the sake of learning. At each point, you'll be better than you were before, and at each point, that will no longer matter to you, because you'll be focused on the stuff you don't know. And that stuff will always be an endless list.
That's not depressing to me; it's exciting to me. If it's depressing to you, don't be a programmer. Seriously. Save yourself from a life of pain. There are many careers--including some rewarding ones--where you can coast after you've learned a bunch of stuff. Programming is not one of those careers.
If I could wave a magic wand and magically immediately make you know everything you'd know if you spent the next ten years studying for hours, you'd feel the same way you feel now. The horizon will always recede ahead of you. Make peace with that. Learn to enjoy that. Or pick a different field.
Your task, if you want to be a programmer, is to learn something today so that you'll be a better programmer tomorrow. That's all you can ever do.
See Questions On Quora
Continue reading...
