Software development is a volatile profession. Technologies and frameworks change constantly and you have to be always on your toes and keep learning new stuff.
Even if you are not a software developer and your profession is moving at a slower pace, constant self-improvement should be a very important part of your life.
The only resource is time
Time is finite. Death is inevitable and it is part of life. So, we should be considerate of how we spend our time. Money and other things are only the outcomes of processing the only resource: time. By learning new skills, getting a promotion, getting a new job what we essentially do is improving our efficiency in converting time to those said resources.
The rate at which we learn is also important since it affects the rate at which we improve our time conversion efficiency. You can spend a hundred lifetimes and still not be able to find out a fraction of human knowledge by yourself. Studying those that came before helps us build on top of previous knowledge. Reading good, non-fiction books is indispensable part of an effective life.
Not reading good books when I was younger is something I regret. I would blame the school system that lead me to associate books with boring homework and also the internet not being as widespread as it is now, but blaming something except yourself is only rarely helpful. Nevertheless, better start sometime than ever.
Another source of knowledge that you shouldn’t underestimate is courses from people with more experience. A course is the reason that lead me to start this blog. More specifically How to create a blog to boost your career authored by John Sonmez from Simple Programmer.
Self actualization
If you are unfamiliar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it goes something like this: human needs follow a hierarchy in which different layers of needs are grouped together. The bottom layers consist of needs such as food and shelter. When a layer of needs is satisfied, as humans we seek to fulfill the next layer. That pattern continues until we reach the top layer of self-actualization. As you can imagine the only way to satisfy this layer of needs and achieve true happiness is through self-improvement. However, hapiness is a subject of it’s own, that is better discussed separately.
Before I end this post I am going to leave you with a quote from Benjamin Franklin closely related to self-improvement and change
When you’re finished changing, you’re finished
