I'm an idiot

My talk at iOSDevUK, September 2016. I discuss how I don't really know anything, and neither does anybody else, and that's fine, and some strategies for succeeding despite this fact.

Transcript

1. I'm an idiot Richard Turton @richturton
2. I am an idiot Maybe you're an idiot This is a good thing
3. I am an idiot
4. I don't belong here
5. I don't belong here... and that's OK If you think you're the best in the room, you're either wrong, or in the wrong job — Me, just now
6. High-performing idiots I'm a dumbass — @designatednerd (Ellen Shapiro)
7. High-performing idiots Programming is, truly, a binary endeavor. "Feel like an idiot" | "Feel like a genius" — @griotspeak (TJ Usiyan)
8. High-performing idiots no one really knows how to code & we’re all stumbling around on [a] barren heath praying for deliverance — @alexisgallagher (Alexis Gallagher)
9. High-performing idiots Next month marks ten years of being a full-time programmer for me, and I still have no idea how anything works. — @shinypb (Mark Christian)
10. High-performing idiots IMO the most important skill for programmers (and one of the hardest to acquire) is being comfortable having no idea what you're doing — @bobpoekert (Bob Poekert)
11. Image by Simon Wardley
12. Leveraging my idiocy
13. Write for an idiot Everyone knows that debugging is twice as hard as writing a program in the first place. So if you're as clever as you can be when you write it, how will you ever debug it? — Brian Kernighan
14. I'm probably doing it wrong
15. ...or at least, it could probably be done better. One of my favorite programming tricks: when stuck, ask "what's the stupidest thing that could make this work?" Frees your mind. — @jonallured (Jon Allured)
16. Write for reading
17. I think the biggest takeaway from my 16 years of programming is just 5 simple words: Don’t try to be clever. — @paulca (Paul Campbell)
18. Clever
19. controller.searchResults?. count.map { $0 > 0 } ?? false — Redacted
20. Ask for help
21. Ask for help My best technical skill isn't coding, it's a willingness to ask questions, in front of everyone, about what I don't understand — @bendystraw (Becky Sweger)
22. Give help
23. A world of idiots
24. Communicate clearly Help each other
25. Thanks, idiots! @richturton