While simple at a glance, these lessons have anchored both myself and many colleagues in our pursuit of technical expertise.
1. Solve hard problems
Solve a hard (and/or fun) problem. Then ride the motivation to take on something even more difficult and fun.
2. Be content with not knowing the answer right away
When you do something for the first time, it’s natural to not know the answer. Skip the anxiety and hack away.
3. Ask for help
Sooner than you would think is necessary. More often than you think is reasonable.
4. Ship, then go deep
Launch your project or solve your puzzle, then go deeper into how the details work. Most people will either 1) skip this second step and move on without locking in lessons or 2) go too deep first and never get to the problem-solving phase.
Acknowledgements
From conversations with Stepan Parunashvili