The State of the Philippine IT Industry
What I don’t like about the Philippine IT industry is that there seems to be a bunch of people who always think that they’re better than everyone else. It’s always the ego talking. Always on the lookout for any chance to put down a person or two.
This should never be the case. It’s time for us to band together and make this country the IT hotbed of Southeast Asia, if not the world. And we could only do that by adopting an INCLUSIVE growth mindset.
Inclusive Growth Mindset
What does inclusive growth mean, anyway? It is the improvement of oneself, while helping others grow along with him.
I implore you, dear reader, to start practicing this now:
You got to admit to yourself that you don’t know everything. No one has monopoly on knowledge. Heck, what you know now may only comprise 1% of all the IT/CS concepts out there.
Once you feel the inadequacy of your knowledge and skills, don’t be disheartened. Never stop learning, embrace it even! There are plenty of resources out there. The Internet is your playground.
If there’s a concept that is really hard for you to understand, try asking people for guidance. Do this after you’ve researched by yourself (i.e. Googling), not before. Although many would be willing to help you, you’ve got to respect their time too. So you have to make sure the questions you ask are worth their time.
There is no such thing as a dumb question, only a lazy one. So do your research first before asking. “Am I doing this right?” or “Is there a better way of doing this?” is much much better than “Can you teach me how to do this?”. It shows you’ve put in effort first, before seeking other people’s help.
If you know something, don’t keep it to yourself. We live in a sharing economy now. The more you share, the more you get back (but expecting something in return should never be your primary motivation). This I could attest to.
The last stage of learning is being able to articulate what you know and teach them to others. So go ahead and teach other people. Perfect venues for teaching include coding meetups, seminars, conventions. Write a blog. Answer people’s questions on Facebook, on StackOverflow, on Quora. You don’t have to be an expert to be able do this, you just need a genuine urge to help.
Refrain from using jargon and technical mumbo jumbo all the time. Yes, it’s important to know them. But it’s way more important to be able to make people understand the concepts behind them. For example, did you know that the concept behind Redux “action creators” is just a plain observer pattern? Much like what plain javascript events are, and very similar to how Chrome extension messaging API works.
Stop putting down others, especially beginners, just because you think they don’t know what you know. Teach others what they don’t know instead. And remember, once upon a time, you were also in their shoes. Empathize.
Don’t take criticism personally. No matter how bad the critic’s intent may seem, always take the positive out of it. Keep in mind that your primary objective is to learn from everywhere, from everything. Don’t let your hurt ego get in the way of that.
Lastly, just enjoy the journey. Learning. Sharing. Meeting people. Getting frustrated. Motivating others. It’s a rough and bumpy road ahead. But being a developer is one heck of a fulfilling profession to be in.
Invitation
Let me invite everyone to join freeCodeCamp.Manila . We are a community of self-learners intent on helping each other grow in the IT industry. We hold coding meetups monthly. We are open to volunteer speakers who are willing to impart their stories and knowledge to other members.
Originally published on November 25, 2017.