Circumventing Fear of the Unknown

Presented at try! Swift NYC 2018: https://www.tryswift.co/events/2018/nyc/#fear

Slides with speaker notes are here: https://static.ashfurrow.com/try_swift_2018/deck_with_notes.pdf

I'll link to the video when it's been uploaded.

Transcript

1. Circumventing Fear
   Of The Unknown
   

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2. Story Time
   

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3. Agenda
   1. Fear Cannot Be Avoided
   2. Struggling is Normal
   3. Work Smarter, Not Harder
   

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4. Fear Cannot Be Avoided
   

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5. Everyone experiences fear
   

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6. Fear cannot be avoided
   

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7. Fear cannot be avoided…
   But it can be circumvented
   

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8. We can change our relationship to fear
   By acknowledging it
   

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10. We can change our relationship to fear
    By talking about it with others
    

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11. The best work environments
    Invite you to ask questions
    And talk about feelings
    

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12. As a human being
    You deserve a supportive environment
    

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13. Leaders need to exhibit curiosity
    And praise curiosity in others
    And encourage empathy
    

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14. Struggling is Normal
    

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15. https://jvns.ca
    

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16. https://jvns.ca
    

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17. Computers are actually
    Pretty difficult
    

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18. Engineers don’t write code
    Engineers solve problems
    

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19. Don’t get attached to your code
    Don’t get attached to your tools
    

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20. There is always someone
    Lower-stack than you
    

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21. Work Smarter, Not Harder
    

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22. Humans want to have an impact
    

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23. When starting your career
    You focus on learning a lot of new things
    And gaining experience
    

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24. Engineers tend to over-specialize
    

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25. Expert
    

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26. Expert Generalist
    

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27. Expert Generalist T-Shaped
    

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28. Branching out of expertise is difficult
    You will struggle
    That’s okay
    

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29. As your career grows
    You need to shift
    And focus on improving how you work
    

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30. Forget about flow state
    

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31. Skill Level
    Challenge Level
    Apathy
    

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32. Skill Level
    Challenge Level
    Relaxation
    

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33. Skill Level
    Challenge Level
    Anxiety
    

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34. Skill Level
    Challenge Level
    Flow
    

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35. Do shallow work
    

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36. Skill Level
    Challenge Level
    Flow
    

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37. Skill Level
    Challenge Level
    Flow
    Anxiety
    

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38. Skill Level
    Challenge Level
    Shallow work
    

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39. Pair with other engineers
    

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40. Focus on a minimum-viable next step
    

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41. Learn how you work best
    But don’t overdo it
    

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42. Wrapping Up
    1. Fear Cannot Be Avoided
    2. Struggling is Normal
    3. Work Smarter, Not Harder
    

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43. You’ve Got This
    (And it’s okay if you don’t)
    

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