Fake it until you make it!

Apr 22, 2013 · 3 minute read · Comments

This is a post that I’ve had floating around in my head for a long time. The title might be a little misleading, but I hope that the content remains somewhat relevant to it in some ways (that will hopefully become clear as you read through).

I want to talk (write?) about how similar powerlifting (or any strength sports, I guess) is to software development.

“You must be mad!”, you’re thinking. You might be right.

Read on if you dare care.

I’m not a great developer - sure I know how to fling some code together, write some tests and automate a whole bunch of tedious tasks; but I’m not one of the ‘greats’. What I do take pride in though, is not being one of these unfortunate guys that builds ‘code inventory’. I like to ship software that works, within agreed time frames. That makes me happy.

I’m not a great powerlifter (actually I barely even consider myself a powerlifter at all at the moment, but that is a different story) - sure I know how squat to depth, touch my chest with a bar and lift double my own (reasonably considerable) body weight; but I’m not one of the ‘greats’. What I do take pride in though, is not being one of these unfortunate guys that hits the gym several times a week for years, without making any significant gains (be it size or strength). I like to put in time under the bar and get stronger. That makes me happy.

My desire to get better at both of these important things in my life actually took on a very similar tact - and I’m going to share that secret with you now: surround yourself in people better than you, be the guy you want to be and not the guy you are.

Getting stronger

• Stopped training by myself, and at home - joined a ‘spit and sawdust’ gym with plenty of serious meat-heads.
• Read everything I could on getting bigger and stronger (from training journals, white-papers and scientific research, nutrition etc).
• Talked to seriously big and strong guys online and in the gym, shutting up and learning from their experience.
• Ate literally everything in sight (I’m not a lean guy naturally, I used food as a tool to reach my goals).
• Trained like a powerlifter, with powerlifters.
• Signed up for a powerlifting competition.

Building better software

• Changed my job so that I wasn’t the sole developer, working alone.
• Read everything I could on a development subject that interested me (for me it was TDD, Silverlight/WPF and MVVM).
• Talked to some great minds about software and code online (hey Twitter!) and at work, shutting up and learning from their experience.
• Got involved in almost every chat/discussion in the office that I could.
• Used techniques I’d only read about, in my every day working life.
• Started a community (user group’ish thing) which I would have to talk/preach at.

In summary

The key here is that if you’re the biggest, fastest fish in your pond - you won’t get any bigger and faster. It is time to find another pond.

When you get to your new pond, don’t just act like a small, slow fish. Act enough like the other fish, and you’ll soon be a lot more like them for real.

Fake it, until you make it.