Introduction

The choice is simple. You can let your career happen to you, or you can take control and change the trajectory of your life.

Whenever you admire a “successful” person, whether its someone who gives talks on stage with ease, runs a profitable business as a single founder, or crushes it at work, it’s important to realize that they’re not any more special or any better than you.

A common mental trap is to think that people who are doing better are actually better. The difference is that they do things differently.

The people we look up and consider successful didn’t stumble there. They’ve made conscience choices and sacrifices to create more opportunity for themselves.

Too many people let their careers happen to them. They take the first job gives them an offer. They punch in and punch out, doing everything that they’re told, but not much more. They think “paying their dues” means something. Maybe it did in the 1960’s, but not today.

Worse, you may be legitimately talented. But writing lots of great code does not guarantee success. I’ve known a couple of people fresh off a Master’s degree who shot themselves in the foot because they didn’t know how (or that it was even possible) to negotiate. So they started their careers making less than a junior developer hired off the street.

If you want success (whatever that may mean to you), then you have to become an outlier. That means taking initiative and doing the things that scare you.

There are habits, skills, and techniques that can give you a significant advantage in life. The person who practices these skills is going to move faster and further than the average person who lets life happen to them.

There are no shortcuts. But if you’re going to work hard, you might as well work smart.

The wisdom is out there. You aren’t the first person to battle with distraction. You aren’t the first person to feel underpaid. You aren’t the first person to have trouble finishing your art.

The goal of Codetip is to collect the learnable techniques, skills and wisdom that will help you achieve the level of success you want in your life.

I don’t claim to have all the answers, or even the right ones. In fact, most of the time I’m going to point to you books and resources created by people much smarter than me. When you consume enough self-development material like I have, you begin to recognize the same fundamental advice over and over.

You do not have to be a genius to succeed in technology. What you have to be is determined. You need to work hard and you need to work smart. And you need a little bit of luck.