A presentation at codebar Festival by Matt Northam
little scraps of wisdom @mattnortham
“ I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom
i am matt
or some things that being a parent has opened my eyes to or reaffirmed, which have benefited me in some way in my working life, that i thought might be nice to share with you
you don’t have to get things perfect
don’t be afraid of making mistakes
learn > experiment > fail > learn > experiment > fail > learn > experiment > win!
it’s good to play
sometimes your play turns into your work
“ creativity is impossible without conditions
use what you know
“ disruptive innovations [are] technologically straightforward, consisting of off-the-shelf components …often simpler than prior approaches. Clayton M. Christensen
if you encounter something new, document it
hell is other people’s code
hell is your own code from 3 years ago
celebrate your successes
communicate your efforts
celebrate 🪜 Concrete steps we have taken towards larger goals. 🎉 Successes of value to us personally, but not necessarily to others. 👀 Your difficulties, failures AND mistakes.
when you get, give. when you learn, teach.
don’t get attached to your ideas
LISTEN SILENT
“ i criticise by creation, not by finding fault
more ‘yes, and’ less ‘no, but’
take a look around
it takes a village
under promise & over deliver
“ by age 5, children were less trusting of someone who sounded confident but had been wrong before, than someone who was tentative but had been right.
@mattnortham
thank you @mattnortham
How my kids helped me to be a better developer.
This talk will highlight some of the key transferrable skills I’ve found between parenting and being a developer.
The following resources were mentioned during the presentation or are useful additional information.
This is from a slightly older version of the talk I did, but the same points apply and it’s still legit.
for free. You
can too.