I Gave a Talk at the Ottawa Ruby Meetup

I gave a talk at the Ottawa Ruby Meetup last week. It was lots of fun!


My talk was about the idea that mastery in programming is a constantly moving target. I argued that there is always more to learn. Always new things to master. The process is never finished. It’s a continual duality where you’ll go from newbie to expert—back and forth constantly.

I talked about how to get competent in something quickly. How to overcome the inevitable plateau (hint: it’s not by pouring 10,000 hours into it).

I talked about my love for brutal and honest feedback.

I then talked about how deep focus and concentration are much better tools than throwing endless hours into a task. I then followed by a few strategies on how we can train our brains to focus better (based on science!).

I ended with an anecdote about Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo. As he was dying, he gathered his students around him and asked to be buried in his white belt. He was the highest ranking martial artist of his time and he chose the symbolism of the beginner for his legacy.

The journey and practice of continually learning is never over. What a gift that is.

This was my first talk at a meetup and it went great. The audience was engaged and there were lots of great questions afterwards. Thanks everyone who participated!