Lessons on Taking Responsibility from “The Pragmatic Programmer”
It’s 3am. You’ve been working on this coding project for 4 days straight. You’re running on coffee, energy drinks, and a paralyzing fear of failure. Your code keeps flashing errors, your eyes are sore, and your virtual airline isn’t loading the right number of trips and it’s all so stressful and-
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Sometimes your projects don’t turn out as planned. When this happens, it’s easy to shift the blame onto your programming language, your prof, the project itself, or countless other reasons.
However, according to “The Pragmatic Programmer”, that isn’t the best way to handle things.
“The Pragmatic Programmer” is a book containing advice on how to become an effective, realistic, successful programmer. According to the authors, these programmers “…think beyond the immediate problem, always trying to place it in its larger context” in order to make good decisions. The authors also stress the importance of communication, continuously learning, and critical thinking. They touch on the value of knowledge, comparing your accumulated knowledge to an investment you manage. Finally, the authors present tips for getting others involved in your projects, keeping your code pristine, knowing when to stop working on a project, and taking responsibility for your actions.
According to the book, when you take on a responsibility, you’re also taking on the expectation that you’ll be kept accountable for whatever happens with it. Before you take on a project, you should assess the risks involved, and decide for yourself if the project is worth taking on. From there, even if the project fails because of reasons out of your control, you shouldn’t make excuses as to why it failed. Instead, you should offer alternative solutions: maybe parts of the project can still be used for other purposes, maybe you need more time, or maybe you need more resources. No matter what, it’s important that after failure, you’re looking for ways to succeed.
I definitely agree with the book. I think that taking responsibility when things go wrong is the best way to improve. One idea that stood out to me was the idea of taking responsibility even when you didn’t do anything wrong, because taking on a project means taking on all the associated risks involved. You can still learn from situations where failure is not your fault by not putting yourself in those situations to begin with.
I really enjoyed the book’s take on responsibility. I wish I could end by quoting something a famous philosopher said about the topic, but I’m a Zoomer and I don’t know any so here’s a tweet I read instead:
Thanks for reading. If you didn’t think this blog was useful, don’t blame me; you chose to read it.
