Needs Improvement

Colin Coller's Blog
Posts: 62 | Comments: 156 | TrackBacks: ?

December 14, 2004

Why "Needs Improvement"?

I had a rare migrane today and wound up in bed instead of at Riona's office Christmas party. I'm a bit disappointed (I was looking forward to meeting her new coworkers) but I cooked myself Thai red curry chicken, took a long shower, read a few chapters of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and then Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code, and now I'm feeling well enough to blog a bit.

Reading Refactoring reminded me that I haven't posted anything on why I'm blogging or why I named my blog "Needs Improvement":

I need to improve (and so do most people in my profession).

I have a 4-year bachelors degree in computer science, 8 years of professional software development experience, and a portfolio of software development projects (successes and successful failures) to draw on. I'm no slouch, but as I've gotten more experienced I've realized just how wide the scale really is. When I first started programming, I thought I was a 4-out-of-5, really hot shit. Later, a 4-out-of-10. Now, a 4-out-of-25. I still feel plagued by 1- and 2-out-of's, but I'm closer to them than I am to the likes of Erich Gamma, Ward Cunningham, Kent Beck, Martin Fowler, etc.

So I've set out to improve myself. I plan to post about my progress here, and hopefully inspire or help others who want to improve themselves too. I also plan to release more software here, hoping that being personally responsible for this software and its users will help me improve as a software developer (or at least give me lots of code to practice writing tests and refactoring on).

Cheers,

Colin

01:22 AM | Colin

TrackBacks

# free nokia ringtones ?????????¦???????

03:18 AM | free nokia ringtones

# discount tires ?????????¦???????

04:07 AM | discount tires

# sheilas wheels ?????????¦???????

04:33 AM | sheilas wheels

# Ephedra. Ephedra.

12:33 PM | Ephedra.

# Soma. Soma.

05:47 PM | Soma.

Comments

# RE: Why "Needs Improvement"?

Wow. After 2 years of experience, I feel like a 8 out of 10.

10:20 AM | Hassan Voyeau

# RE: Why "Needs Improvement"?

You're quite self-aware, a good trait.

You might find this interesting: http://www.zenspider.com/RWD/Thoughts/Inept.html

12:07 AM | Nathan

# RE: Why "Needs Improvement"?

Hassan: I hope your self-assessment is accurate or becomes accurate over time. :)

08:47 AM | Colin

# RE: Why "Needs Improvement"?

Nathan: I've actually read Dunning & Kruger's report. It's "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments", online at http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/psp7761121.html. I wish we were made to read it before we started our undergraduate degrees. :)

08:51 AM | Colin

# RE: Why "Needs Improvement"?

I've actually had similar experience (at least on paper) - 4 year bachelor (info sys though, not comp sci) and about 7-and-a-bit years experiece, and I also did the 4-out-of-5 to 2-out-of-10 self-assesment. What I have found is this:

I embarked on some serious learning programs this year. I shifted to a new job with a LOT of project responsibility, I've become active in my local INETA group and I am reading 3 books and innumerable articles. I'm starting to feel like a 3-out-of-10 now ;-). The more I expose myself to the more I begin to feel like I am getting a grip on things.

Also, we just got 2 juniors (fresh out of 6 months empowerment training program). They are pretty kewl and willing to learn but I feel really knowledgable next to them and I suppose I am. It's all relative in the end. Versus Box, Sells, Fowler, etc., etc., etc. I definitely still feel like an ID10T, though.

04:29 AM | Hilton Giesenow