Something difficult to accept is the fact that you will probably change.
We can all expect to change daily, monthly and yearly. In today's episode, we're going through an exercise to identify changes we've experienced in our lives to identify how far we've come and where we're headed.
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Something difficult to accept is the fact that you will probably change. And you're probably going to change much more than you think you will. There's some good evidence that says that change happens not only when you're young, but throughout your life. Whether you're 18 or 58, you can expect to change a pretty significant amount in the next decade or so. And so it's useful and perhaps provides a bit of humility to take time to remember. Remember the way that you were and how you've changed. In today's episode, I'm going through that exercise publicly by giving you a little bit of a tour of my life. Giving you advice that I probably would have rejected 10 years ago. My name is Jonathan Cottrell and you're listening to Developer Tea. My goal in this show is to help driven developers like you find clarity, perspective, and purpose in your career. And the truth is, I'm probably going to have new advice in 10 years from now that I would probably reject today. If we imagine that we are done changing. Then we're probably going to cut ourselves off from growth. But that change is going to occur and we have to prepare for it. So one of the ways that you can prepare for it is to start accepting that it's likely that it's going to happen. And to remind yourself that this has happened in the past. That allows you to feel safer. Feel safer when you recognize that you're changing. That you have some new information that is prompting you to that change. These changes happen because of a variety of things. But most often because we learn new things about ourselves. We form new beliefs based on our experiences. And so there are times where we might feel like we'd like to travel back to our younger selves and provide some advice. And that's kind of what we're doing in today's episode. I'm mentally taking my time. I'm taking myself back to 10 years ago. And trying to give myself a bit of advice that I can take forward into my career. And while I might not be able to benefit from this. Perhaps the younger developers who are listening to this. Or really anybody who's listening to this may be able to take this advice. So we're going to start with a piece of advice about learning. But it's not just about learning. It's also about making decisions. Making decisions about what you're locking yourself into. As humans. We have a little bit of an aversion to choosing something that destroys our optionality. In other words. Locking ourselves into a given choice. This makes us have anxiety when we think about losing our options. But the truth is. Research and experiences will show you that you're happier. Once you've made a locked in decision. Now some of this is because of our post-review. Rationality. In other words. Once you make that decision. You convince yourself. That it was a good decision. But beyond that. For developers specifically. When you're learning. A lot of the deep knowledge that you have. In a narrow area. Is likely to be transferable. In other words. If you learn very deeply. About performance in one language. It's probable. That the information that you learn about performance. In that language. Will transfer. At a deep level. To another language. And so. Your intuition may tell you. That you need to learn a broad set of things. And necessarily. When you start learning that broad set of things. You're likely to only go to a shallow depth. My advice to you is. To narrow. The things that you're considering learning. Many times on this podcast. I've recommended. Learning one language for six months. Just focusing on one language. For at least six months. This may sound. Like a short amount of time. But when you spend that focused energy. Especially very early on. In learning that one area. You'll realize that. You can take. A pretty good step. Into the depth of that thing. Even in six short months. So. This is something I recommend. Because I experienced. This feeling. This need. Of trying to learn. Everything. Trying to get. Some familiarity. With everything. And this feeling comes. From. The sense. The incorrect sense. That everyone else. Is learning everything. And we get this. Maybe. Because we expose ourselves to. Social media. Maybe. Hacker news. Or something like that. And we see. All of these different technologies. And we have. We have the perception. That all other great developers. That we respect. And admire. They already know. All of these tools. They already know. All of this information. They're experts. In algorithms. They're experts. In data structures. They're experts. In ten different languages. And they've architected. Scaled systems. All of them. But the truth is. Very few of them. Have done something. Across the board. And. Almost all of the ones. That have. Career. Have focused. In some area. For a significant period. Of those careers. So that's my first piece of advice. Care. Less. About your optionality. And instead. Be willing to. Commit. The power of commitment. Will. Will be felt. In your. Kind of. Personal contentment. You'll appreciate the fact. That you've committed. And no longer. Do you have to. Kind of keep your head. On a swivel. But you'll also realize. That there's. A compounding effect. If you can. If you can commit. To a. A narrower. Range of things. There's a compounding effect. When you start building. True deep. Expertise. And that expertise. Is most often. Transferable. We're going to take a quick. Sponsor break. And then we're going to come back. And talk about two more pieces of advice. That I probably would have rejected. Ten years ago. Today's episode is sponsored by. Stackbit. Static sites. And the Jamstack. Are growing fast. Front end developers. Pretty much already get it. It's fast. It's secure. And as a developer. You still have full control. Over the markup. And the design. But convincing clients. To go static. Is a little bit. Harder to do. How will they update their content? This is kind of the. The main question. That comes up in these conversations. Where's the CMS? Right? Mainstream. Mainstream adoption. Of the Jamstack. In a commercial context. Relies. Largely on solving. This particular issue. Of content management. And this is where. Our friends from Stackbit. Come in. Stackbit lets you build. And deploy. A Jamstack site. A full Jamstack site. With a static site generator. And a headless CMS. In just a few clicks. You can already choose. From a dozen. Pre-built themes. For Hugo. Jekyll. And Gatsby. And connect to. Pretty much all. Of the headless CMS's. That you're used to using. Like Forestry. Or Netlify. Or Contentful. On top of that. Stackbit. Just released. Custom themes. And they're. They're. Now you can import. Your own themes. Built on any. Static site generator. Including the ones. That we've already mentioned. But also. From. Viewpress. Gridsome. And others. Just add a. Stackbit. YAML file. And define your content models. And your theme is ready. To connect to any. Headless CMS. Stackbit allows you. To test the strengths. And weaknesses. Of the popular. Headless CMS's. Quickly. And explore. Which one is the right fit. For your client. Or your project. Last of all. The source code. For sites. You provision. Through. Stackbit. Is stored right back. In your own. Git repo. So you can continue. To design. And develop locally. Without compromising. Your developer workflow. Go and check it out. Stackbit.com. Slash. Developer T. That's stackbit.com. Slash. Developer T. Let us know what you think. So we're talking about. Advice that I probably. Would have rejected. A decade ago. And you. Should have. Your own list. Of these things. That you've learned. In a decade. And imagine yourself. Giving. The advice. To. That younger version. Of yourself. And the way. That you can think about this. Is. What are some of the major. Mistakes that you made. And how would you. Go about. Hopefully. Rectifying those mistakes. If you could replay. History. Now. Of course. This isn't a. Failproof way. All of this. Advice. Comes with. A grain of salt. As does. Everything that we say. On this show. But this is. A way. To kind of. Post-mortem. The past. Ten years. A long. Term. Version. Of. Yourself. A post-mortem. Over the last decade. There's a lot. You can learn. In that. So we're going to run. Through the next. Two pieces. Of pieces. Of advice. That I probably. Would have rejected. Ten years ago. The first piece. Of advice. Is to view. Every job. You have. For the rest. Of your life. Is temporary. And this is actually. More in line. With reality. Not only. Are people. Very likely. To have many. Jobs. I think. The average. Is somewhere. Around six. Or seven. Jobs. In their careers. May have changed. Since I looked. At it last. But. Not only. Are we. Very likely. To change. Jobs. Very few. People. Have long. Running. Careers. In a. In a. Certain. Workplace. But. We also. Eventually. All. Leave. The job. One way. Or another. Right. We are. Temporary. As humans. We aren't. Here. Forever. And. Everything. Around us. Is changing. There are. So many. Things. About your job. That. You can't. Even control. For example. It's possible. That the company. That you work for. Will fold. So this has. Deep ramifications. Into your. Behaviors. And the way. That you operate. With the. People. Around you. The way. That you collaborate. And. All of the ways. That you kind of. Set yourself up. In your career. Right. Treat. Every job. As temporary. Now. This kind of. Clashes. With our previous. Piece of advice. Of. Committing. Right. And. Being willing. To. Kind of. Let go. Of optionality. And. Our point here. Isn't to say. That you're always. Keeping. Your eye out. For the next job. The. Advice. Is still. Kind of. Cohesive. With. Staying in the moment. And working. To the best. Of your ability. In the. In the job. That you currently have. But there's a. Big difference. In viewing your job. As temporary. And still committing. To doing great work. At that job. Versus. Viewing your job. As the last job. That you'll ever have. When you view your job. As the last job. That you'll ever have. Then a lot of the things. That otherwise. Might be possible. Very quickly. Become impossible. A lot of good habits. That you may develop. Like for example. Taking time. To. Build good documentation. Paying attention. To the impact. That your work has. On the people. That are using. Your software. Or. Paying attention. To the kinds. Of interactions. That you have. With your teammates. All of these things. Are necessary. To building. A long career. That's full. Of. Change. And so. If you imagine. That your next job. Is going to be. Awarded. Based on the behaviors. In your current job. Or. Based on the accomplishments. In your current job. You're. Much more likely. And this is kind of. The paradox here. You're much more likely. To do a good job. Right. You are paying more attention. To the work you're doing today. Because it has ramifications. On your future. You're taking nothing for granted. In a lot of ways. When you see your jobs. As temporary. The final piece of advice. Is kind of along the same lines. And really comes out. Of the. Second piece of advice. We just gave. About seeing your jobs. As temporary. And that is. That you are not. A good predictor. Of your own future. And this is. Not only true. Based on. The things that you think. You will do. But also. The things you think. You will want. The way you think. You'll behave. The kinds of. Problems. That you'll. Want to solve. Or. The kinds of personal. Issues. That you'll have. A lot of the things. That we expect. To happen. Probably won't. And. A lot of the things. That we don't expect. To happen. Might. Of course. When we say it this way. It sounds obvious. It's hard to predict. The future. But a lot of the things. That we. Think we're good. At predicting. We're just as bad. At predicting those. As we are. At predicting. Random things. That have nothing. To do with us. We. Like to think. That the things. That we want today. Or the things. That we envision. For the next. Five years. Today. Are likely. To come true. Or. Likely. To stay. The same. And. They aren't. And so. When we imagine. The future. And. When we. Try to. Put our minds. Into that future. We very often. Create. These worlds. That. Are never going to exist. And very often. We also forget. These imaginations. We forget. The world. That we thought. Might exist. As we move. Into the future. And. Interestingly. Enough. It feels like. A lot of our imagination. About the future. Ends up getting wasted. It's not that we shouldn't. Try to think about the future. In fact. I highly recommend. That everything you do. Be done with. The future in mind. But rather. That we don't tie. Our happiness. To some specific picture. Of the future. That we've. Kind of imagined. For ourselves. Instead. We. We. We. We. Keep the future in mind. But we. Take everything. Day by day. Thank you so much. For listening to. Today's episode. Of Developer Tea. I hope this was helpful. To those of you. Who are. Early in your careers. Especially. But also. People who are. Kind of facing. These changes. And. Looking back. And trying to remember. Or trying to. Remind yourself. That you have changed. I highly. Encourage. This kind of activity. This kind of exercise. Because I think. It gives you. A moment. To. To remind yourself. That everything is temporary. Thank you so much. For listening. Today's episode. Wouldn't be possible. Without our awesome sponsor. Stackbit. Head over to. Stackbit.com. Slash. Developer Tea. And check out the magic today. Thank you so much. For listening. To today's episode. It also wouldn't be possible. Without spec. FM. Today's producer. Was Sarah Jackson. My name is. Jonathan Cottrell. Until next time. Enjoy your tea. Bye.