“If you don’t practice, you don’t deserve to win.” – Andre Agassi
Wait, what? If we’re considering our work time as “competition”, how can I practice four hours for every hour of performance? That’s mathematically impossible!
Hear me out: The four-to-one hour ratio is mainly targeted at sports performances. But consider how much creative and new things you try – just to learn – when you are on the clock. Not much. Your employer isn’t interested in paying for you to “play around.” They want results. Quickly.
Have you ever heard of the guy who got one year of experience ten times – and called it ten years of experience. True experience is trying/learning innovative approaches to a common problem. The only way you’re going to be able to do that is by pairing with a more experienced developer, where you can learn new techniques and ways of thinking, or by studying on your own time. Reading books, working through training courses, going to user group meetings and conferences, watching training videos.
In short, you need to spend time expanding your knowledge and experience on your time away from the office. No one cares more about your career than you do. Not even your mom!
I once asked the most successful developer I know how he learned so much. I’ve spent much of my career reading and taking courses and going to meetings and conferences. But I’m constantly learning amazing new things from him – and he is much younger than I am. His response was very telling: “I don’t know that I’ve ever worked on anything by myself. I always make sure I’m working with someone so I can learn new things.”
All of this is to say that you can get 8 hours of new experience a day by working closely with someone more knowledgeable than you. And you can probably learn at least SOMETHING from everyone! So, maximize your time at the office to learn new things. Then, when you get home, take some time to learn from your other sources. The more you do this, the more effective your work will be.