Growth Mindset: A Cliché or a Secret Weapon?
Find out what growth mindset is and how it affects your software developer journey
If you have read any self-improvement articles or blogs, you would have come across the concept of growth mindset.
So you might feel it to be cliched.
But is it useful for your developer journey?
What is Growth Mindset?
Growth mindset is like a secret recipe that helps you become awesome at stuff over time.
It's about thinking that even if you're not super good at something right now, you can still become amazing with practice and learning.
Imagine starting with a tiny seed and, with care and attention, watching it grow into a big, strong tree. That's how your skills can grow with a growth mindset!
This groundbreaking concept, pioneered by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, posits that individuals with a growth mindset view challenges as opportunities for growth and setbacks as stepping stones on the path to improvement.
Applying a Growth Mindset to Software Development
For a software developer, a growth mindset is a pre-requisite.
It helps you to not give up when things get tough.
Instead, you see tough things as fun challenges to solve.
When you find a problem in your code, you don’t quit; you keep trying until you fix it.
With a growth mindset, you are always ready to learn new tricks and you improve in your craft.
Why Do Some People Think It's Not Real?
Sometimes, people think growth mindset is a made-up thing or even consider it another new trend that will soon die.
They might mix it up with just being positive or think it's too simple to help.
But guess what? It's not only about being super positive.
It's about believing in yourself and trying even when things are tough.
Human nature often resists change, and adopting a growth mindset requires a fundamental shift in perspective.
Such resistance can lead to an erroneous perception of the concept as superficial or cliché.
Why Should You Care About It?
When you have a growth mindset, you can:
Work yourself out of difficult challenges.
You do everything to get yourself over the line and that includes asking for help.
You'll keep trying different ways until you figure it out.
When you face tricky problems, you won't give up.
Continuous Improvement
With growth mindset, you know your learning is never finished. It is ongoing.
You learn new things all the time and you have to keep on working on your skills to get better.
What this does is, you also remain humble. You know your limits and other people in your team also will have certain limitations.
It makes you better leader.
Solve Coding Mysteries
Bugs in code won't scare you.
You'll see them as puzzles to solve. You'll learn from your mistakes and make your programs super smooth.
Team Up with Friends
Having a growth mindset helps you work better with your developer buddies.
You'll share ideas, help each other, and create amazing things together.
Knowledge in one thing that increases by sharing.
Bounce Back Stronger
When things don't go as planned, you won't feel down.
You'll get back up, learn from what went wrong, and become even stronger.
You know you have learned something new.
How to develop growth mindset
Change the conversations going on in your head
This is one of the hardest steps that you have to take.
Change - it is too hard to → If I solve this, I will go a level up in my journey
I cannot sit for so long at the computer → I am getting better at sitting long at the computer every day.
I am really clever/talented but this is beyond me → This is nothing to do with your cleverness/talent. It is all about doing the work for long periods of time.
Embrace Challenges
If you persist with a problem, you would find a solution.
The more you solve problems, the more the above belief will become stronger.
It is then it becomes easier to embrace challenges.
Practice Makes Perfect
If you have gone through the above two points, you know it is all about practice.
But here’s the thing.
Even the most experienced programmers don’t practice their craft outside work hours.
So if you are serious about it, you will soon scale the heights with right practice and guidance.
Ask for Help
Movies paint a wrong picture of a developer working in a dark corner with a hoodie on.
Successful developers are not afraid to say I don’t know.
The key is not to know all the answers.
The key is to be able to know how to ask the right questions.
Being a developer is a team journey.
You're the Master of Your Software Journey
Growth mindset isn't just a fancy phrase.
It boils down to willingness to persevere when things are not going your way.
Remember, the best developers have started by writing the loops and conditional statements, just like you.
For software developers, cultivating a growth mindset is not a trend but a transformative journey that leads to enhanced performance, adaptability, and personal fulfillment.
We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as a backbone to a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline - Few Good Men
Love this line from the movie.
Remember, to use growth mindset as a backbone of your developer journey and not as a punchline.
Here it is again. I am in love with this line. Watch it and you will feel the impact.
This Week’s Reads
CAP theorem in nutshell: All you need to know for an interview
A Guide to Java HashMap: A 101 guide to hashmaps in Java
Amazon’s Not So Secret Weapon: A very interesting article on Working Backwards in Amazon