Never underestimate yourself

I often define myself as an early adopter person. I like testing, checking, criticizing products and technologies.

I know there’s a lot of people out there with more knowledges than me, deeper and stronger, about everything. That’s why sometimes there’s a mistake incurred by me that is the underestimation of my own value.

Maybe this sounds weird, probably in some psychiatric way, but I think this happens to more and more people around me.

Our value in the society is endorsed to a degree, a certification or whatever that proofs that we have received the proper training background in the matter that we are supposed to be good.

But what about experience? Yes. we have passed by one of the most important issues of someone’s capabilities: the experience. There’s no task that doesn’t require experience. Skills and know-how are always required as a supporting feature of that paper that shows that you have spent X years in a college or university. But it’s always an add-on, never a fundamental requirement.

Of course, academic qualifications are(mainly) essential to get the basic or advanced knowledges in a matter, but without experience, they mean nothing.

There’s an ancient spanish say:

“Más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo”

It can be translated as something like ”The Devil knows more for being old than for being devil”. The wisdom you receive by experiences can’t be taught in a classroom. You can only live it by yourself, and adding that knowledge to your vital awareness of your job… or life itself, will make the difference between you and the rest.

But there’s another point we shouldn’t pass by: no one obtains his/her own experience without having an opportunity: a chance to learn, and a chance for making mistakes.

There are lots of professional profiles, but the ones I appreciate most are those who demonstrate to be restless, perfectionists, persevering, keen on learning, and above all, humble. With or without experience.

You don’t need to be an own-start-up-CEO-self-employed-one-man-band to swagg about having these attributes. Every little ant working in a big organization can be cut by this profile, and if you find someone like that, you’d better stay by his/her side: you’ll learn a lot, and both of you will be enriched by your own experiences.

Mentorship is one of the most incredible experiences that you can live. To share your knowledges to other one, and see how performs the same task in his/her own way is simply fabulous. It can help yourself knowing that things you thought they were obvious, weren’t at all; but are deep part of your own experience… and sometimes can be done in another way, and can even succesful than your way!

Sometimes, life teach us more than books. Scary simple, isn’t it?
Never quit learning.