If you are a developer, and you feel bad about not knowing everything, I have one item I want you to memorize:



No one knows everything. No one.



The best coders in the world only know a small fraction of everything there is to know about coding.

The only skill you need is to know 1) how to identify what you don’t know / when you don’t know something; and 2) how to look things up, how to read documentation, how to try & try & try and keep trying while things fail, until they work. That’s literally the job of writing code.

Everything is always changing anyway. So as soon as you “know” it, it’s changed. Knowing what to do when you are stuck and at a loss — that’s the most important skill. Being ok with that scary feeling of not knowing, that’s the job.

Those coders who act like they do know it all — who brag and boast and try to make other people feel small… They are just covering up insecurities about not knowing what they are doing. That arrogance is a lie.

They are likely pretty bad coders because they can’t identify when they don’t know something. They can’t handle it emotionally, so they treat other people crappy.



The better option is to learn to breath through the feeling of incompetence. Identify it as part of the process.

Don’t take it personally. You don’t know what code to write? Yeah, we all don’t know what code to write. We figure it out. Line by line. Bit by bit. It’s broken most of the time. Until it’s not. Then we go write new broken code. Until it’s not broken.



Welcome. That’s the job.

You can follow @jensimmons.

Share this thread

Bookmark

____

Tip: mention @threader_app on a Twitter thread with the keyword “compile” to get a link to it.



Enjoy Threader? Sign up.



Since you’re here...



... we’re asking visitors like you to make a contribution to support this independent project. In these uncertain times, access to information is vital. Threader gets 1,000,000+ visits a month and our iOS Twitter client was featured as an App of the Day by Apple. Your financial support will help two developers to keep working on this app. Everyone’s contribution, big or small, is so valuable. Support Threader by becoming premium or by donating on PayPal. Thank you.



Download Threader on iOS.