| I'm a founder and one of the point technical people for Kpow (https://kpow.io). We're a bootstrapped, self-funded, global business in a technical niche. Kpow is a toolkit for Apache Kafka, so basically we build an expert system for experts - it's a lot of fun. We are very, very delivery focused. The idea came from my own experience through the past 10 years building things with Kafka. I like to think I'm a fairly effective programmer. The biggest shift in my productivity came 15 years into my career when I moved from Java to Clojure for delivery. It's not for everyone, but it certainly changed my world. If I am a good programmer it's because I started to copy my older brother who was interested in programming back in the 80's when we had a Spectrum 48k and I just didn't stop. Since the age of 6 I have written or read programs almost continuously except for the period between about 10-18 where I played games and hung out with friends instead. At times I have been a terrible programmer, particularly when encountering a new languages and exploring ideas. That doesn't bother me because I know in time I absorb details, accumulate, and polish my own ability to delivery. Behind it all though I enjoy programming and have stuck with it. I think that's the main thing. It takes time. I don't believe there are any shortcuts. Keep challenging yourself, don't sit on the thought that 'My Language Is The Best', that's the respite for programmers who have stopped. You're only as good as your last three years so basically ignore any boomers on the net with opinions. The best programmers I've worked with don't have blogs, don't write books, don't speak at conferences. They're too busy creating things, often quietly, often in not particularly glamorous settings. It may be apocryphal but supposedly Steven King says the best way to be a good author is to read and write a lot of books, I think that applies to programming. |