I think soneca is probably right on this one, though it's kinda subtle. One thing he doesn't mention is that you have to work on being good--so good that they can't ignore you, even when you're not interviewing. So that when you finally do interview, with a little bit of preparation, it's not that big of a deal. And if per chance you didn't get it, you move on.
Kinda like how athletes ideally practice and drill so much that by the time a game rolls around, it's as if they're quite familiar with it, and going through the motions. It's not a surprise when you win.
There's so many things to do that I feel so left behind. Just when I think I reached the finish line, I realized I just barely made it to the starting line for a very competitive race.
I remember when I got back into programming after having left it for electrical engineering for a while. When I looked on the bookshelves at Borders, there just seemed to be an overwhelming amount of stuff to learn.
Nowadays, when I look at the bookstore shelves, there's only a couple topics of interest to me. When I noticed that difference, I asked myself why.
I guess it's because I got better at figuring out what to ignore--developed a sort of taste. I didn't try to learn everything. The only way to cultivate this is to try different things, and learn the core concept, not the actual language or technology.
I think the other thing is to realize that you'll never be #1 in just one thing, unless you're willing to work harder than anyone at it. Like Olympic level hard. Sometimes that's not practical. However, if you can be pretty good, say top 20%, at two things, that when put together is pretty valuable, then that's actually quite doable.
I can always be better myself as well, and have been looking to be better.
Comments
I think soneca is probably right on this one, though it's kinda subtle. One thing he doesn't mention is that you have to work on being good--so good that they can't ignore you, even when you're not interviewing. So that when you finally do interview, with a little bit of preparation, it's not that big of a deal. And if per chance you didn't get it, you move on.
Kinda like how athletes ideally practice and drill so much that by the time a game rolls around, it's as if they're quite familiar with it, and going through the motions. It's not a surprise when you win.
What happens if I'm not that good?
There's so many things to do that I feel so left behind. Just when I think I reached the finish line, I realized I just barely made it to the starting line for a very competitive race.
I remember when I got back into programming after having left it for electrical engineering for a while. When I looked on the bookshelves at Borders, there just seemed to be an overwhelming amount of stuff to learn.
Nowadays, when I look at the bookstore shelves, there's only a couple topics of interest to me. When I noticed that difference, I asked myself why.
I guess it's because I got better at figuring out what to ignore--developed a sort of taste. I didn't try to learn everything. The only way to cultivate this is to try different things, and learn the core concept, not the actual language or technology.
I think the other thing is to realize that you'll never be #1 in just one thing, unless you're willing to work harder than anyone at it. Like Olympic level hard. Sometimes that's not practical. However, if you can be pretty good, say top 20%, at two things, that when put together is pretty valuable, then that's actually quite doable.
I can always be better myself as well, and have been looking to be better.