[tstrimple]

I agree that most of the great technologists I’ve worked with have been like this. But it’s certainly not true of everyone. I’ve got one friend who is what I would classify as a slow learner. He doesn’t pick up new languages or technologies well and he flounders for a long time when out outside of the areas he feels confident in. What he is though is incredibly consistent within that space he is comfortable with. I can turn around amazing things during a hackathon or POC when the realities of every day development don’t get in the way, but I’m average at best at day to day delivery of the same type of work. This guy though churns out code reliably every day. Over and over again. He’s able to achieve more through attrition than I am by being able to quickly learn new things and then quickly get bored.

So I completely agree with the sentiment of “just have a go at it”. It’s what I’ve done all my life. But I also acknowledge there are many very productive developers who can’t really do that well. Consequently he has a much more difficult time landing new jobs, and he’s much more likely to hold onto jobs for way longer than I would have bailed on it. He’s a lot more difficult to hire than someone who is confident in their ability to figure things out along the way.