Soyouneedtogoinherewiththerighthabits, and I sayhappensbecausethisis a longtermgameandit's notreligiousabouthaving a fewskills, a fewtechniqueshereandthere, a fewtipsandtricksyouneedtocrafttherighthabits, andthosehabitswillmodeyoueverydaytohavetherightcareertrajectory.
I havebeenworkinginthisindustryforover 10 years, highlydecorated, highlysuccessfulexGoogleTechlead, and I'm heretoprovideyoumytopsevenhabitsnow.
Firstofall, though, I dowanttomentionthatwedohave a brandnewsponsortoday, andwhenthat I'm reallyhappytointroducetoyou, ifyouhaveheardofthemalready, thatserviceisblinkist.
Myfavorite, actually, onmydrafttoday I listentothesevenhabitsofhighlyeffectivepeople, andit's a greatread, phenomenalbooknamedtheoneofthemostinfluentialbooksofthe 20thcentury.
And I wasabletogetthroughthatjust 15 minutesonmydrive.
Exceptprogramsarekindofontheoppositeendofthescale, wheretheirbodiesaredeteriorating, completelyweakandalmostfallingapart, destroyedintotheshapeof a chair, andthentheyjusthavetotrytoprotecttheirbodiesandmodeitbackinto, like, a normalbaselinesothattheydon't appeartooweird.
Nowmysecondtipforyouishave a getitdoneattitude.
Thissortofkindoflikegetting 18% theworkandjustshipping a product.
Youknow, makingsurethatyou'regettingthingsoutthedoormovingthingsalongbecauseprogrammerstendtohave a tendencytojustkeepworkingonsomestrangelittlefundingproblemandjustkeepthebuggingsomethingforhoursandhours.
It's notweirdtohearprogrammersspent a wholeweekworkingonsomesmall, stupidlittlebugandjusttryingtountanglesomelittlepuzzleintheirheadbecauseit's justsofun.
Andtheyjustgetstuckinthisstrangelittleloopthatthey'retryingtofigureout, youknow, tobe a reallyeffectiveprogram, oryouneedtokeepyoureyeonthegoalandthenreverseengineerwhatyouneedtodotogetyourprojectoutthedoortoshipthings.
Youknow, I don't trytoconfiguremyenvironmentsuchasveryweird.
I likemyenvironmentactuallytobeprettynormalsothat I couldbeproductiveatanymachinebecauseoneofmygoalsistobeproductiveintheApplestore, suchthatif I'm outtravelingremotely, I cangotoanyApplestoreandstartworkingrightthere.
Itneverreallygetsyouanymoneyisjustsomethingthatyoujustpolishoverandoverandjustkeepdoingthatlittlethingoverthereand, youknow, that's notreallyresultsoriented, I guess I wouldsay, infact, theviewertoworkinindustry.
Youmayfindthatit's quiteoppositefromopensourceculture, where a lotofthecodeisjustducttape, stringedup, hacktogether.
Youcanrefactor a tonofdifferentways, andthenthingsbecomeunmanageable.
Whenyouorotherpeoplearealldoingthingsin a differentway, andthenyou'retryingtogetthatcoattointerruptwitheachotheroryou'retryingtoreachsomeoneelse's code.
You'rereadingsomecodethatyouhadwritten a whileback, andyoumayfindthatyou'renotabletoreusecode.
Youmayfindportionsof a programmerinmanydifferentways.
Youmayfindviewsthatareduplicated, andthenyouhave, like 5 10 20 copiesof a certainview.
Refactorthingsquickly, makechangesdeepacodefasterandjustgoingtohelpyoushipyourprojectmuchmorequicklyhavebeennumberfouristohave a consistentwaytogetinthezone.
Sothezoneisoneofthemostproductivetimesfor a programmerwhenyou'rejustcodingandyou'rejustswimmingthroughthatcodeandyoulosetrackoftimeandbeforeyouknowyou'vewrittenanentireprogramandthisis a periodoftimewhenyou'renotinterruptedbyanybodyelseandyoucanjusthavelongstretchesoftimelike, say, threehoursorso, I wouldsaywhereyoucanjustsitdownandgetsomesolidcoatinandthenmakesuretobudgetmypersonaltimeandtosetexpectationsforpeoplearoundmesuchthatpeopleunderstandthat I need a specific, undisturbedperiodoftimewhere I canbeproductive.
Programisjustoneofthosefieldswhereifyou'reinterruptedeverysay, 10 20 minutes, you'rejustnotgoingtobeabletogetmakingthembecauseyouneedtobuildtheselargerabstractionsmentalblocksinyourhead, anditjusttakes a longerpairoftimetogetthatstuffdone.
HappenedNumberfivealwaysbelearning.
Sharpeningyourselfdidtheotherofyourcomforts.
Um, it's veryeasy, andwe'recodingtogetstuckin a certainroutinewhereyou'rejustdoing a certainsmallsubsetofanarea, andyoucouldjustdothatfor a numberofmonthsorevenyears.
A weekortwolater, theycomebackandtheysaythey'vejustbeenstuckonsomethingandthey'renotreachingoutforhelp, andtheyjustwastehugeamountsoftimeforthem, anditdestroystheirproductivity.
Thiscareerisnotlikebeing a doctor, whereyou'rejusttalkingwithtonsofpeopleisnotlikebeingthecashieror a salespersonor a manageror a consultantinprogramming.
Maybetheyjustdon't reallyneedtospendthreehoursbythemselvesinfrontof a computer.
Getinhisownbutt.
Ifyoursoundtrainedtobe a programmerthanyouneedtobudgetforthatsortofexperienceforyourself, whereyou'rejustgoingtobebyyourselfspendingthreehoursreadingsomedocumentation.