What is growth? Growth refers to self-improvement, on the one hand, personal ability, on the other hand, social recognition of you. Ultimately, the position and salary of the programmer can be reflected in the growth.

Many people have a misconception about growth. In their eyes, growth is taken for granted with the increase of working years. This is actually a misunderstanding. Two programmers working at the same time for three years, are they going to grow exactly the same? It’s not the same. Many jobs require at least 3 years of experience, and that’s three years of sustained growth, not just bumbling along. Here’s a simple example that you’ll understand.

Take building as an example. For example, a large company publishes the following recruitment requirements: Recruiting senior architectural engineers with competitive salary in the industry. The requirements are as follows:

  • 5 years working experience in housing construction;

  • Have a deep understanding of all stages of housing construction;

  • Familiar with the use of various types of bricks, steel bars, cement and other raw materials;

  • Required to hold the national construction engineer certificate of grade II or above;

  • Hard-working is preferred.

After seeing JD, any builder with 5 years of experience would jump at it and think he could.

What does this position actually entail? This large company wanted to build a 50-story high-end commercial office building, and needed to hire a senior engineer to complete the foundation, frame and shape design of the entire tower, as well as consider the disaster resistance and earthquake resistance rating.

And come to apply for a large part of the construction engineers, although they have worked for 5 years, but they are usually doing what? It goes something like this:

  • Move bricks, cement, build walls, etc.

  • Houses have been built of no more than six storeys;

  • The foundation, the frame and the shape were never considered, because they did not need to be considered, as long as they followed the existing scheme.

I worked like this for 5 years, and I was very good at my job (moving bricks, mixing cement and laying walls). I thought building a house was so simple. I thought I had mastered building a house.

But are they really up to the task of building a 50-story building? Obviously, no!

What kind of person is qualified for this kind of job? They also worked for five years, and what they did was something like this:

  • The first year: move bricks, mix cement, build walls, etc., and participate in the construction of some six-story buildings;

  • The second year: move brick, and cement, build walls, etc., at the same time to study the characteristics of all kinds of bricks, cement, steel and other raw materials, know the applicable scenarios of different raw materials, can independently build 6 small buildings;

  • In the third year, I went to another construction team to build an ordinary house of 10-20 floors, and began to participate in the design of foundation, frame and shape with the foreman. In my spare time, I read some architecture books to understand the design ideas and concepts of some well-known buildings at home and abroad, and often published my understanding of architectural design on the architecture forum.

  • The fourth year: I began to independently take charge of the construction of ordinary houses of 10-20 floors. In my spare time, I began to study the design and construction of commercial buildings of 30-40 floors, considering the design concept, building disaster tolerance and other issues, and determined to design a higher building by myself.

  • Fifth year: a suitable opportunity to join this big company and lead the design and construction of 50-storey high-end commercial office building.

Now, I think we’re all clear. Moving bricks for 5 years is still only a brick remover, can’t design skyscrapers anyway.

For programmers, staying in the same position repeatedly moving bricks is not a great growth, only to constantly challenge themselves is the correct growth posture.

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