I think it's up to you to determine what you want to do, but I see most of the "the real difference between great and good {developers, managers}" sort of posts as overconfident and self-promotional. In our (America-centric tech) culture that's soaked in cheerleading and self-promotion, this might work for a lot of people. It doesn't work for me.
I cringe every time I see one of these posts. To be honest, I may even grudgingly bookmark it sometimes. Maybe I should be thinking more about ten ways to become a great developer, not just a good one!
But the truth is that I will probably never read it, and I certainly won't return to it or link it anywhere. I mean, the embarrassment! It's like telling your friend they should read the "10 Ways to Lose Weight Fast" articles in some grocery store checkout line magazine trash.
I'm an old-fashioned craftsperson that prefers either thoughtful and reasonable reflection about things that have worked out; or flat out angry rants about things that haven't.
And maybe this is because...real life works that way too? If you're talking to someone about your successes, you're probably not going "Here's 10 ways to become a great developer. Number 1..." – you're probably incorporating a lot of caveats into your suggestions, and emphasizing the specific context that they are made in. Meanwhile, about failures or things that didn't work out, you're probably going "Oh my god, I need a couple drinks before I can even begin to talk about how [terrible boss] single-handedly sunk our project".
In summary – You do you. But I prefer to read people who write like they talk.
Comments
I think it's up to you to determine what you want to do, but I see most of the "the real difference between great and good {developers, managers}" sort of posts as overconfident and self-promotional. In our (America-centric tech) culture that's soaked in cheerleading and self-promotion, this might work for a lot of people. It doesn't work for me.
I cringe every time I see one of these posts. To be honest, I may even grudgingly bookmark it sometimes. Maybe I should be thinking more about ten ways to become a great developer, not just a good one!
But the truth is that I will probably never read it, and I certainly won't return to it or link it anywhere. I mean, the embarrassment! It's like telling your friend they should read the "10 Ways to Lose Weight Fast" articles in some grocery store checkout line magazine trash.
I'm an old-fashioned craftsperson that prefers either thoughtful and reasonable reflection about things that have worked out; or flat out angry rants about things that haven't.
And maybe this is because...real life works that way too? If you're talking to someone about your successes, you're probably not going "Here's 10 ways to become a great developer. Number 1..." – you're probably incorporating a lot of caveats into your suggestions, and emphasizing the specific context that they are made in. Meanwhile, about failures or things that didn't work out, you're probably going "Oh my god, I need a couple drinks before I can even begin to talk about how [terrible boss] single-handedly sunk our project".
In summary – You do you. But I prefer to read people who write like they talk.