Ask HN: How to become a ridiculously good back end staff eng?

Re:Ask HN: How to become a ridiculously good back end staff ... by tedyoung on Wednesday August 11, 2021 @03:18PM (#28146412)

Take time to reflect. A lot of folks focus so much on doing that they don't take the time to take a step back and see what's working and what isn't. You might be shipping a lot of good stuff, but maybe you're making assumptions too often, or making the same mistakes over and again, or simply not taking the time to just _think_.

Take time to share and listen. Teaching, mentoring, coaching, etc. others, especially those with less experience, is good, but is often done as a one-way transfer of information. Instead, find people who ask good questions (those with the least experience often ask the best ones) and be open to exploring those questions together. It's hard, because you will base your answers on your experience, which is by definition limited (it is for everyone), but it may not be the right answer in all situations.

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Re:Ask HN: How to become a ridiculously good back end staff ... by andher on Wednesday August 11, 2021 @03:29PM (#28146570)

Do you have a good way to identify and question your assumptions? You're right in that there's learned patterns that have worked well in situations which I'll keep applying moving forwards, although I do try to enumerate the trade-offs. There's probably blind spots there.

> Instead, find people who ask good questions (those with the least experience often ask the best ones) and be open to exploring those questions together. It's hard

Great call out. Tangentially, if I'm being honest, not knowing answers to basic questions makes my insecurities surface, definitely a character flaw to work through.

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