Educate Yourself

Applicability: As general as possible.

Justification: The most general rule in this book, it is applicable in a much broader scope than memory management alone. It means nothing less than that we should always set in expanding our knowledge to strive for being a professional. Knowledge does not come by itself. We have to earn it. It’s a tedious, time-consuming, and laborious process. That is why we have to constantly motivate ourselves. Does such an obvious truth deserve a separate rule? I think so. In everyday life, we can easily forget about it. It seems to us that everyday tasks can teach us something. And certainly, to some extent, they do.

But it is obvious, to get out of comfort zone, we need to follow a few steps. Consciously.

And that means reaching out for a book, watching a web tutorial, reading an article.

The possibilities are plentiful and it makes no sense to mention them here all. However, it is so fundamental that it must be on the list of rules of every professional. If you are not convinced of my words, get interested in the concept of Software Craftmanship and manifest available at http: / /manifesto.softwarecraftsmanship.org. I’m also a big fan of the concept of Mechanical Sympathy, which came up with the rally driver

Jackie Stewart:

You don’t have to be an engineer to be a racing driver, but you do have to have Mechanical Sympathy.

This concept was then introduced into the IT world by Martin Thompson. What does it mean? Obviously, you do not need to be a mechanic to be a racing driver. But without some deeper knowledge about how a car works, what are its mechanics, how an engine works, what forces are influencing it – it is really hard to be a good racing driver.

She should just “feel the car” to work with it in a harmony. She should feel Mechanical Sympathy. This is an exactly the case with us, programmers. Of course, we can just think about frameworks like NET or JVM and stop there. But then we will be just like Sunday drivers, seeing a car from the perspective of a steering wheel and few pedals.

How to apply: In a such general rule, there is hardly one simple approach to take. You may read books about how a computer or your framework of choice works. You can use many online training services. You can watch or attend conferences and local user groups. You can start a blog and write about such topics because there is no better way to learn than to teach. There are so many possibilities, I will not even try to list them all. Just keep in mind the motto “educate yourself” and try to implement this rule in your life!