Naren @DudeWhoCode What's Next?

Narendran Independent Software Engineer @DudeWhoCode [email protected]


Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer "The most important step a person can take is not the first one. It's the next one. Always the next step"

Career Capital • The skills and value you accumulate over time • You need to find your career capital and start accumulating it brick by brick

Investment • You need to start investing in order to gain something from career capital • Invest your time and energy to accumulate valuable skills

Skills should look like splash of paint on wall

Python Go Postgres Clojure Team work Start breadth first & eventually increase the depth Redis * Tech stacks shown here are for illustration purposes only, don't push it into your next project just because you saw it on internet * Blockchain Empathy

Increasing the odds • Luck is another word for increasing the odds of success • Combine your skills/values to create/explore new opportunities to increase your odds of success

Permutations 3! = 6 7! = 5040

Power of Compounding • Your career capital compounds • Your network compounds • Your coding skills compound • Stay calm and be patient

Learn how to learn • Everything you learn becomes a shortcut for understanding something else • The more you know, the more you can know

Adjacent Possible • The space beyond the boundaries of cutting edge where opportunities open up and big ideas tend to happen • You get to the cutting edge by gaining more career capital • You open up more adjacent possibles by combining your skills

Systems over Goals • Follow a system than having a fixed goal • Goals are for future and future is always uncertain • Create a system that aligns with your personal energy • System helps you to form habits

Systems vs Goals • Finance • Increasing asset to X amount is a goal. Investing and saving every month upfront is a system • Fitness • Increasing muscle mass or reducing fat to X% is a goal. Eating healthy and showing up to workout is a system • Career • Getting a job in dream startup is a goal. Showing up regularly to code and learn new stuff is a system

Make it your identity • Finance • I am going to save money I am an investor • Fitness • I am going to workout I am a weight lifter or amateur athlete • Career • I am going to work for FAANG I am a software craftsperson

Craftsperson mindset • A craftsperson asks what value they can offer to the work before asking what the work can offer them • A craftsperson follows best practices and picks the right tools • A craftsperson cares for their work

Deliberate Practice Immediate Feedback Stretch Your Ability Becoming a Craftsperson

Gains • Once you accumulate your career capital, you start trading your capital for gains • Ex. Getting more freedom/autonomy by giving the value from accumulated career capital

Embrace boredom • Dress up and show up • Fall in love with boredom • Motivation is scarce it's like ignition to the engine, to show up and repeat is the work of pistons, you need to embrace boredom

Small bets • Use the streak of small wins to get big wins

Stay fit for the job • Both your physical health and mental health is important • If you feel like sh*t while writing code, your code might end up being sh*t • Take enough breaks • Burnouts are nasty

Sometimes things won't work out • You are always replaceable by your employer • Be prepared and have a runway • If you can't shine somewhere, you can always shine elsewhere

There is no one size fits all approach. Keep experimenting and fail forward.

References • So good they can't ignore you
 (Book by Carl Newport) • How I failed at everything and still win big
 (Book by Scott Adams) • My personal experiments and failures
 (No, I don't have a book)

@DudeWhoCode [email protected] Thank you.