We tend to compare our results when learning something new with someone who has been doing it for years

We tend to compare our results when learning something new with someone who has been doing it for years.

I did.

I remember working with a mentor when I was really struggling with DevOps and thinking:

"He has incredible talent, I don't know what it takes to reach his level."

And the reality is time.

If you're going to compare yourself to someone, compare yourself to the person you admire on their first day doing what they now do so skillfully.

In the beginning, it's tough, but it makes you realize that every form of mastery had to start SOMEWHERE.

This reflection arose from a conversation I had yesterday with some talented colleagues.

I casually threw out the question:

"How difficult would it be to implement a CI/CD strategy from scratch?"

At that moment, we were talking about a tool like Jenkins and how efficient it is in automating processes.

We decided that, looking at Jenkins right now, it would be VERY difficult to implement a similar CI/CD strategy from scratch.

But then I asked:

How difficult would it have been to implement a CI/CD strategy that competed with Jenkins on the very first day it was available?

My assumption is that it would have been much easier.

Anyway, that's how I try to see things now.

It's easy to take small steps.

It's hard to build everything in one day.

If you want to take the next step, next Saturday, February 10th, I will be hosting a free class to help software engineers improve their skills.

Send me a message or comment if you want to attend.