“Computer science is all about solving problems.”
Something my college instructor once said during a slow afternoon in class as I started nodding off to a deep post-lunch slumber.
Surprisingly, that statement was one that I would never forget.
In all my previous years of working, “problem solving” are the words that could essentially sum up the moments that I felt at my best.
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I’m relatively new to my career in computer science, and I never went into it believing that I could improve anything. All I wanted to do was to be told what to build and to build it.
So I built it. And then I got bored.
My first job as a “web content manager” for a small marketing startup initially got me started updating content for small websites.
Aka, copy and paste.
It was great within the first month because I had a somewhat steady income.
Eventually, boredom set in, eventually leading me to a small sense of crisis.
“Did I go through six long grueling years of mid-terms, late nights, and finals only to be a professional ‘copy-paste’ worker?”
But things changed in the latter portion of my time last that job. I had remembered another one of my friends who spoke about “scripts” and automation. That’s when it clicked.
“Computer Science is all about problem-solving.”
I get it now. I know what I need to do. So I asked myself the age-old question that EVERY self-respecting programmer should ask themselves,
“How can I make this better?”
From that point on, my career began to take shape for the better. I came to realize that you don’t need to sit around and wait for others to tell you what to do.
You go out and make the change. You move that cheese.
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Go into each job with the mindset of problem-solving and you’ll love what you do.
You were meant to create, build, and thrive on the works that you accomplish for yourself and others.
It’s in our nature to do this, and you’ll be pleased you did.
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The Mindset to Foster for All Aspects of Your Life
Improve, improve, improve
Nothing more self-explanatory than that. Being stagnant is career and company suicide.
Be Lazy
Not literally do nothing, but actually, find ways to make your job easier on you and for everyone else!
Think Win-Win.
How can this benefit you, others, and the overall company?
Solutions aren’t solutions if it only benefits you and gives more work to others.
Never Settle for Comfort
A famous book called “I Moved Your Cheese” by Deepak Malhotra illustrated that the key to success is to be the change in a world that wants to change you.
If you control how things change, you’ll never be short of success in your life because you aren’t moving at the beat of the drum, you ARE the drum that is beating.
A Few Questions to Ask Yourself
– What am I complaining about?
– How can I make this faster for everyone?
– What am I always doing that could be automated?
– What obstacles can we remove?
– What is ONE thing I can focus on to make this better?
I could go on, but the ultimate mindset to foster lies entirely with your ability to realize that you cannot settle for less.
“If it ain’t broke, how can we make it better?”
The Quiet Onez 