Yaaaay!! I did a Git commit!
Sure, I only changed the orange icons in the UI to black icons (apparently orange is NOT the new black). But I did a commit!
In my last few jobs, I mostly ran Zoom meetings, created Power points, spreadsheets and wrote docs. In my new role, I have been learning all sorts of new tools — like HR, Insurance, Finance, Invoicing, etc.. And now I’m getting back to my engineering roots. (When one of your young, more modern engineers doesn’t understand your reference to Borland C++ — you quickly realize that YOU are in severe tech debt.)
My Dad and Mom each have one copy of the APOE e4 gene — which means there is a higher likelihood of Alzheimer’s. I have one copy too. Knowing this drives me to be constantly learning and keeping my brain fresh. It also causes me to be hard on myself: am I too slow or is this normal? Why can’t I get into “flow” faster?
Flow is “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter.” It takes about 15–20 minutes focusing on a single task, without interruptions(!!) to get into a flow state. At Fastly, I moved rapidly between contexts and meetings, never mind interruptions. There wasn’t time to get into flow. But now, I have ALL OF THIS FREE TIME WITHOUT MEETINGS (i know, it is amazing). But the new challenge is this: I am learning too many things.
I am now responsible for Product (user stories) and UX. (I apologize to all future YeshID designers.) I needed to learn a UX tool. My UX–talented friends told me to use Figma. I was SLOW. So, I took a six-week course to learn how to use it. Finished it in a week. Like a good co-founder, Alex Vaystikh printed me out a “certificate of completion” which I proudly display in my office.
A couple of days later, I started to get the hang of it. I was moving from requirements, to paper mocks, to Figma mocks….I got a flow going. It was an AMAZING feeling. But of course it wasn’t enough. I don’t want to bother engineering every time I want a color or font change. So…David Cornell helped me to do my first commit. Kevin Chiang helped me download all the tools and build. And Scott Sitar showed me how to download other stuff via homebrew on a terminal! So a day after my incredible first flow state…I got uncomfortable, awkward and slow all over again as I learned a bunch of new tools.
Each of my new skills is in a different stage. I can get a first draft pretty quickly on paper, I am getting into flow more in Figma thanks to my course and Andrew Pons. I am taking baby steps playing with the code (and yes of course the first thing our engineers did to protect me from me — is give me my own branch). I think the hardest thing to come to terms with is that I most likely won’t get a chance to hit mastery before I have to take on a new skill — or give up something like UX design to a real UX designer. So I am appreciating the flow when I have it. And I am grateful that I am continuing to “embrace the awkward” and learn.
