Beginner vs Experienced Programmer Mindset
Do you often forget how to read CSV in Python/R?
Brandon Rohrer, Principal Data Scientist at iRobot, recently tweeted that every time he had to read or write data, he had to Google it up!
Sounds familiar?
As a beginner, I used to always think that great programmers know absolutely everything there is to know about programming. They have everything in their head and they don’t need to lookup anything.
But the reality is far from it!
In fact, it’s quite the opposite from whatever I’ve been reading. The more experienced you are, the lesser it is that you keep things in your head. You know that any time you forget some syntax, you’re just a search away from the right answer.
And therefore what becomes important is your ability to search for the right answer. The more experienced you get, the better is your ability to come up with the right keywords that will get you the answer. This is a lesson that many of us learn as we go through the different stages of our career. Some don’t. And get overwhelmed. And leave the field.
Hope this helps you understand that not knowing everything is normal. Keep learning, keep building.
