Well, I just listened to the last keynote here at RailsConf. I probably won’t be writing much about it, but I am making the presentation slides and their examples available in one big tgz:
PresentationSlides.tgz
Right now it doesn’t include Sunday’s presentations, but I’ll put them up once they’re available. If you want to get individual presentations or see where I got them from, go here:
Oreilly Wiki
Web2Expo
Last updated 2007-05-21
I had someone this week tell me that I know how to do everything. And while this is flattering, in a way, what I have come to understand very quickly this semester is that I know so little.
Most people who know me know I know a lot about technology. In many realms it is only superficial, but I do know a lot of technical information. I know many languages. I know many areas of technology, including programming (of course), networking, systems administration, and network security. I don’t think I should downplay this by any means, but if I am satisfied with where I am, I will never progress.
What I lack is less tangible, the practical experience that it takes to become an expert in a field. I’ve been of the belief that I can read myself into being an expert. This shows in my adaptability in dealing with different technologies and my broad knowledge base, however there are no shortcuts with experience. This semester I have run into many cases where I have been found wanting in something that I can’t simply learn from a white paper or book, things that can only be gained through experience, and this has been humbling. I honestly appreciate these chances to fail and learn from these failures. I’ve grown from them.
I find myself trying to learn from experienced developers all that I can. Not so much in how to do this or that, but in advice and experiences. They have had to weather the storms of good and bad decisions, good and bad designs, good and bad programming, and I would like to learn and benefit from their trials. This is not a shortcut, but a chance to look at situations through the eyes of those who have been there, through those who have through pain of fire succeeded in a blooming field.
So what does this mean for MATC’s web programming graduates? It’s OK to not know everything. It’s OK to make mistakes. There are some things that can only be learned through time, and many things that can only be appreciated through time.