Keep on Iterating

I recently met with someone who was worried about feature adoption by users, and they were worried their engineers would feel bad when a feature does not get used. This made me think about if I would feel bad if a feature I wrote did not see user adoption. It certainly makes me feel really good when users like a feature that I wrote, because I helped to create something that makes their lives easier, but I do not believe it would make me feel bad if they did not adopt it. Moments like that are opportunities to refine what I do, to think about why it was or was not a success, and to make another attempt.

        Multiple attempts are my favorite things about creating software. They give me the opportunity to practice what I have learned and to drive home what works. An example is the getters and setters pattern. The first time I saw it I could not follow it, now I have done it so many times it is less confusing. I do not know it completely, but have a feeling I will get plenty of experience with it. The multiple attempts give me a chance to gain experience and drive home the concepts behind the practice.

        The reason I enjoy the repetition of redoing, iterating, and patterns is because it helps drive it all in a bit further and lets me refine it. Over the past two years I have worked with the best team I have ever been a part of and they have really nurtured my growth as a software engineer and as a person. They have shown me that it really is okay to make mistakes, fix them, and to keep attempting till you get there. I think about and appreciate this mindset every time I create anything because I always want to try to build something better than the last time.