You Are Doing IT Wrong

A simple trick that will help you learn more and achieve more, faster

I could’ve done it better if I knew this…

I’ve been programming since I was about 10 years old. Professionally, I've been doing it for seven years now. I've worked for some of the largest companies in the world, starting as a junior developer and being promoted to mid-level and senior roles.

I never had a CS degree; I only attended a two-year bootcamp, and that was after I had more than two years of professional experience working as a developer.

I’m a very curious person—I always try to keep up with technology by reading books, watching conferences and courses, reading blog posts, and doing side projects. I’m always pursuing certifications, some of which take months to prepare for. That determination really got me to where I am today.

However, looking back, I realize that I could have approached things differently, achieving the right results more efficiently, with less stress and greater productivity.

If you’re struggling to keep up, find a job in IT, or even get a promotion, then this short blog post is for you.

Multitasking Can Be Dangerous

As I mentioned earlier, I am a very motivated and dedicated person. This drive has allowed me to succeed as a software engineer, even without a CS degree. However, one thing that hindered my progress throughout my journey was my constant desire to multitask.

In today’s fast-paced world, multitasking is ubiquitous, whether in small companies or large corporations. People are often juggling multiple tasks simultaneously. However, when you step back and assess, you often find that not much has been accomplished.

Multitasking is a very dangerous habit. If you don’t prioritize the important tasks and instead overload yourself with multiple activities, many of which aren’t even that important to your success, you will struggle to make real progress in anything you get into.

There’s a book called The ONE Thing by Gary Keller that delves deeply into this topic and I highly suggest you read, so I won't go into extensive details here. I just want to share my experience with you in hopes that you can avoid the mistakes I made.

I’ll be honest with you, sometimes I am still guilty of doing too much—juggling work, preparing for certifications, reading books, watching conferences, working on projects, and countless other things. However, the moment I realize I'm falling back into this habit, I take immediate action.

I close 99% of my browser tabs containing stuff “for later” and stop reading all the books on different subjects that I’ve started simultaneously. Reading the documentation of X technology, just in case? You guessed it—gone. In short, I halt 99% of the activities that aren’t relevant to my current goals and concentrate on just that 1% that will actually help me progress more rapidly.

That 1%, I promise you, is the real diamond you need to concentrate all of your efforts on. This is what will get you the most in your life.

Go Small to go further

If you read The ONE Thing by Gary Keller, you will learn about the Pareto Principle. In simple terms, this principle states that 80% of your output or results come from 20% of your input. So, what that means is that small, concentrated efforts always deliver the most results.

Next time you find yourself doing a hundred things at once, remember this principle. Trust me, multitasking only brings stress, and in the end, you realize there hasn’t been much progress. If I’ve observed anything in my career, it's that multitasking at most leads to delivering mediocre results.

At some point, you’ll start to feel unsatisfied, even though you’ve been spending countless hours on X, Y, and Z. And I guarantee you that those X, Y, and Z things, whatever they are, will be mediocre too as a result of not getting 100% of your attention.

When you try to juggle a hundred tasks simultaneously, you'll start feeling the false belief that you're progressing a hundred times faster. That’s a big illusion. Try applying just 5% of what you learned last week, and you’ll most likely realize the truth in what I’m saying.

True progress takes time and dedication. Warren Buffett, the greatest investor of all time, once said, “You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.”

So, don’t look for the nine women. If you're learning Python, don't also try to learn about DevOps, Machine Learning, or GraphQL. Don’t prepare for certifications you won’t need just because they’re cool or trendy, all at the same time. Focus on understanding Python thoroughly before moving on to something else.

Want to be a Java developer? Then learn Java. Don’t chase NoSQL, courses on algorithms, or Harvard courses on ML on YouTube. Avoid the endless urge to chase the next big thing. It’s so easy to get distracted these days.

Focusing on the 1% will save you so much stress and time that you could have spent doing more enjoyable things, like being with your family, traveling, and more. You'll be more productive, and the end results will be far more satisfying than if you were switching between a hundred different things.

And don’t get me wrong, you definitely need to know about NoSQL and SQL databases, and at least the basics of what AI is, among many other things. Learning only Java (for example) isn't enough because these technologies don’t operate in silos. What I’m emphasizing is the importance of learning to prioritize.

Like in math, you need to learn to count before you start doing subtraction and addition. After that, you move on to multiplication and division, and then you progress to more advanced topics like algebra, calculus, and beyond.

Going small, even in system design and software architecture, is the best approach. All great companies, like Netflix, Amazon, and Google, started small by solving one big problem at a time. Netflix solved the problem of DVD rentals and streaming before expanding its services.

Amazon focused on revolutionizing online shopping before venturing into other areas like building one of the leading cloud providers, AWS. Google perfected search before they started solving mobile technology with Android.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, once said he never intended to make Facebook what it is today. He just wanted to create something useful and built on it one step at a time.

So, my advice to you is simple—stop doing a hundred things at once. Instead, find the one thing, or the 1% of the things, that you believe will bring you the highest returns and concentrate all your efforts there.

And remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day.