Software engineering feels like an anxious race. Doesn’t it? In a world where new technologies emerge daily, we software engineers get more anxious to understand, learn and acquire them. This is so we can get better or out of fear that others might and get better than us. As a result, we ignore the tens or hundreds of thousands of hours invested in technologies we enjoy and love using for the next shiny thing. I think the thought that there is something “better” out there is the core of the problem. If you understand this, you will see that it applies to every domain in life. When was the last time you really tasted your coffee? Take a slow sip and savor it and contemplate at the dust particles on the C key on your keyboard. Relax. Everything is ok the way it is. You are not missing out on anything. Sometimes, investing your time in a technology you enjoy, even if it seems old or outdated to the software engineering community, can pay off handsomely. If I’ve learned anything from my 20+ year career, it’s that there’s no limit to how much you can unconsciously improve in one technology. Perhaps, for a change, take time to appreciate an ancient protocol like DNS or TCP. Don’t try make it better, just appreciate it the way it is, with its so called pros and cons. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against creating new things. It is the very realization that you don’t necessarily need anything, that gives you tremendous energy and joy to create freely and at will. As opposed to a compulsive and poisonous need to create full of ulterior motives and expectations. I think this is a journey filled with fear and anxiety and probably leads to disappointment.
suraj kumar
6mo
I really loved it Hussin, your each and every point about the importance of mastering core concepts deeply makes a lot of dense. Especially in an industry where new technologies emerge almost daily as you mentioned. It's really easy to get caught up in the excitement of the latest tools and frameworks, but the real strength lies in having a solid understanding of the fundamentals. Every now and then we read about this is the bet tech, it’s so good to use it, and all those goodie goodie things. You have the core knowledge working this long in tech industry and probably that’s the reason why you are good at teaching even new stuffs. Personally, I strongly believe that when we have a deep grasp of the core concepts, whether it’s understanding how distributed systems work, or the stuffs related to microservices architecture , we can adapt to new techs much more efficiently. End of the day learning something new isn’t just about picking up a new syntax or a new tool, instead it’s about understanding how that tool fits into the broader landscape of what we already know. And its true, even I have often overlooked the real potential of my existing technologies as an engineering manager. Just in my rush to adopt the next big thing.
Greg Barcza
6mo
It's true that in today's fast-paced environment, it's easy to feel that you're missing out, you can't keep up, and eventually, you'll not achieve success. My colleague shared this video this morning about slow productivity which resonated with me a lot. It gave a peace of mind and new perspectives in terms of achievements in our lives. https://youtu.be/0HMjTxKRbaI?si=MwLu3BKjv9dg8haI And an other very important thing I do a lot: do regular check-ins with yourself to see if you're still enjoying the process.
Feeling anxious and overwhelmed by your own progress is so difficult and not healthy at all. But a different perspective and my practice is to do the things that fuel your satisfaction. It's not always the cutting edge tech and trends you need to follow, if the pursuit of new trends overwhelms you, do not simply do it in the domain you're in. Yet you should try to find one where your passion guides you and pushes you to do more. Choose a career that you enjoy and you would never feel overwhelmed by the change. Again, if you can't as mentioned in the post, it's okay. You're good the way you are.
Ahmad Kharsah
6mo
Absolutely right! I think this is one of our life dilemmas to look for perfection. Code that was written in Fortran or C still running and the systems are reliable and in sensitive domains like healthcare and banking. In my opinion we're pushing the tech to be more commercial that being scientific, and this can be seen in some new trends that do what is required for business, but the developers who do this don't understand the science behind it or the logic of it.
Syed A.
6mo
There will always be something new that does not at all mean it has made existing technology obsolete. Infact it takes a new technology number of decades to be fully reliable, mature and dependable and then whether it solves the problems that other existing tech cannot? At the end of the day the role of tech is to solve problem and create solutions.
Pearls of wisdom as life comes a full circle if you stay long enough in it! That said, doesn't the compulsive need to keep up with all the AI rush still make you feel that exact anxiety?
Abhilash G Raja
6mo
In a journey filled with fear and anxiety the mind is not focused in the thing one is doing, then how can one derive value out of it. A sharp focused mind goes deep & distills great insights even from archaic tech or any other subject matter, like a hot knife through butter, it also gives great joy from the `aha` moment of gaining the insight. Nice article Hussein Nasser
Sr Backend Software Engineer | JVM, FP, Spring Boot, AWS, Kafka, Kubernetes, Postgres, Redis, event driven microservices
6moHi, I had periods of excitement and learning and periods of boredom and depression, the factor into my employability and salary was more like people skills and basic tech skills and the economic cycle then my advanced tech skills though I do have a passion in some areas I don't think they are such a big deciding factor in my success within a company or a team, plus some old tech like relational DBS, OOP, FP, all still relevant, with New SQL DBS like Google spanner and AWS Aurora, so it's worth learning but it's also worth keeping a perspective on what pragmatic solutions really work and are battle tested for prolonged production servicing