the trap of mediocrity

Leila is a software developer.

Just like any programmer, she dreams of being a Senior one day.

She made a plan. She set a deadline in her calendar.

Every day she wakes up, she will be working on her skills. She bought a few courses. She also started a small side project.

One week passes by. She didn’t finish a single thing.

Two weeks pass by… She started one course that turned out to be the wrong one.

At first, she blames herself.

Why is she such a procrastinator? Why is she so lazy?

Maybe she doesn’t love coding enough like all the developers she meets at conferences. Or maybe she is simply not good enough…

In a moment of clarity, she looks back at her diary to find out what happened.

During the week, she was too exhausted to do anything. Most days, she would come home, cook a bit, clean a bit, watch some Netflix series, and go to sleep.

What’s more, something always came up that stopped her from making progress on her Senior goal.

Monday was a dentist appointment.

Tuesday, she visited her mom, and Wednesday was date night.

On the weekends, she didn’t even touch her Macbook. After 50 hours in front of a screen, the last thing she wants to do is look at another screen.

Forget it.

The weekend is gone. Is Monday again.

Back to daily meetings. Back to spending three days on a ticket. Back to being exhausted in the evenings, running errands, and spending the weekend recovering.

Days become weeks. Weeks become months. Months become years.

Before she knows it, her dream is gone. She made some progress, but her skills are far from what she expected when she first started as a developer.

Her dream is now a fantasy.

Maybe she should try something else. Maybe product management would be better.

Software development is too stressful.

As you can see, the road to mediocrity is not a big turn that goes wrong. It is hundreds of small things that push you back little by little until, one day, you forget about your dream altogether.

So what could Leila do better?

Can she get more time out of her day? Not really.

But what about using the time she’s got more effectively? She could do that by focusing on the right things.

This way, she can cut out the noise, eliminate 90% of the stuff that is not helping her and focus on the 10% that does. This way, she would make the same progress in 10x less time.

Guess what… We can help you find that out like no one else can! Check it out here! <https://www.theseniordev.com/software-mastery>

The other thing Leila would have benefited from is someone to hold her accountable and give her feedback.

Peer pressure works wonders.

Committing to a goal in front of others (even strangers) will increase the likelihood of you achieving it.

This is where a community like Software Mastery <https://www.theseniordev.com/software-mastery> comes into place, where expert mentors and like-minded devs on the same journey as you surround you!

And the third one is a more effective way of learning.

One focused on mental models instead of frameworks and implementation details.

Because you have less than an hour a day to improve your skills, learning things by heart and googling your way around what you should be learning in the first place is already a waste of time!

That is precisely what Software Mastery is all about. Check it out here! <https://www.theseniordev.com/software-mastery>

If you are like Leila and dream about becoming that go-to expert developer, mastering your craft, and not giving in to the mediocrity monster chasing you every day, I have good news for you!

We can help you! And we would love to!

To hell with being just another coder. Another cog in the machine. We want you to make a difference. To have an impact. To build great things and to achieve your full potential!

So apply here to see if you qualify <https://www.theseniordev.com/apply>, and let’s get you to the next level as a developer!

Take care, Dragos

P.S. I did it! Yes, last Monday, I picked up your emails and recorded two new YouTube videos answering your questions. They will be coming up this week and the next. If you want to be the first to get them, go ahead and subscribe to our YouTube channel! <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC07G4rT6ZvDv0lokaVHKeQw?sub_confirmation=1>