Once I decided to take the steepest and a long water slide. The moment I reach the top and look down- I was scared. Everybody was looking so small on the ground.

The water was flowing with speed at the edge of the slide.

The air was breezing through and I believe the sun was shining with additional power. I just sit there and think about it and then I aborted.

Months later I tried again and did it– finally. But you know, the experience was thrilling. The ride was worth the pain.

Similarly, I tried learning a course during my undergrad studies and I failed.

It could be possible that the instructor was not good enough. Or the course was boring or that particular subject was not my thing.

For example, I tried learning two courses numerical computing and object oriented design. And let’s say I didn’t grasp the concepts.

But, I successfully learned these two courses after graduation and during my job. Recently I was reflecting why this happens?

There are some courses that we all have tried in our college/university life but we failed there and now we know a lot better about them.

So, in this post, I will analyze why I was failed in university and succeeded afterward in real life and what steps you can take to rejuvenate your desire to learn old subject again.

1) Action is Louder Than Words

There are subjects which we don’t understand because we can’t see them in action. For example, one of my classmates once said to me during undergrad studies:

“I want to go into civil engineering, where we can see things like buildings, bridges and other huge things. Something that you can touch and feel. In software development, you just cannot do that”.

You can see that. A software or code is more of an abstract thing. Like mathematics. But once you are in the field you know how the code is written by you to solve real problems.

It brings in profit. Your code can move some hardware (if you are embedded software developer).

These real life results show the importance of the work that you do. And you like results. Due to this, your mind starts to grasp ideas and gives you an edge in learning. Hence once you see things in action you learn faster.

Therefore, the subject of numerical computing was very helpful when I solved a real world problem which involves curve fitting. It raises the importance of the subject and makes it easier for me to learn the subject.

2) You are not Under Stress, Right now

Ok everybody is under stress, mostly at our jobs. But during studies, you have a lot of things to care about. Like other subjects to cover during the semester. You are worried about assignments, exam, labs and other projects.

Our goal is different during undergrad studies. We want to appease our teachers :). We want to score well in the exams. That’s it. That’s our problem.

During studies, we don’t have to solve a real world problem. We have to get marks in our exam and if you didn’t perform no one is going to be affected except ‘YOU’.

But as a professional, there is no exam date. No multiple courses, no exams, and no teachers. Here your core goal is to solve the problem and until you don’t solve the problem the project will not be completed. So all of your time will be consumed on solving the problem.

Once you solve that problem, you will move to the next problem.

Hence you will be working on one problem a.k.a “the project”(ideally). Therefore you will have time and mental resources(since you are not distracted by 4 other subjects) to learn that subject which you tried before.

3) You had sub-par Resources

In universities, I believe you have subpar resources. I am not talking about you if you are from elite universities.

In colleges/universities, computers were slow. There were shared resources and labs. Schedules and timings that you had to follow.

Whereas as a developer in any organization you get super awesome resources. (this was not true for me– but it is true for the majority)

Second, an awful resource was the BOOKS recommended by our teachers. I am a big fan of books. They are ultimate resources- if you want to grow.

But there are bad books too.

Although there were some great books recommended by my teachers. But 80% of the books were very limited. Those were the books I believed written for academics only. The text was written in a super dull and boring way.

When I tried searching those books on the Amazon. Guess what I found “0” reviews. Bad comments and lower rating.

Hence I know that Amazon book rating system is authentic.

Here is a little tip for finding great books: A simple search “top books on XYZ subject” can yield the names of the best book on that subject and then there is the Amazon best selling category where you can search the books on the subject that you like.

Anyway, when I read great books on the subjects of programming, design or anything else that subject become fun to learn.

I wish that I knew about great books during my undergrad studies.

4) Experience is the Greatest Teacher

In real life experience teaches you a lot. For example, bit manipulation looked like a simple concept to the newbie Umair.

But when you really dive into the inner workings of understanding signed/unsigned numbers, 32-bit representation of integer, XOR and AND operation, and how the float is represented by IEEE 754 standard. Then you realize that bit-manipulation is an advanced topic and a lot of things can be done with that.

In real life, you commit mistakes. You see your software failing while saying to everybody that last time it worked fine and you don’t know what’s happening to it now. You are introduced to the term ‘intermittent error’.

So, your mistakes are your most valuable experience. You see things differently than your younger self and you know what is important in programming.

If you are experienced, watching your code organized properly will bring you the joy of your life.

If you are experienced, your code is written delicately with comments which are easier to read like a novel. Your code is beautifully divided into separate files and classes.

If you are experienced, it’s a pleasure to watch your web application adopting its layout across all platform and browsers.

These are the perks of having experience in the programming world.

So, if you tried learning before and it didn’t work out then one of the reason is that you didn’t experience an implementation headache, failures and hardship.

So do you really want to learn something go and implement that–now.

5) Now You Have Mentors

Mentors are very important if you want to learn. A mentor is different than a teacher. In my definition mentor is someone who has reached a certain point which is your destination.

You can have many mentors for different areas of your life.

In the programming world, a mentor is someone who has ahead of you in that field. Who has gone through the pain of being a newbie.

Where can you find a mentor? One thing is sure you will hardly find them in your college campus.

But you will find them in your workplace. Someone with experience in your technology. They can solve your problems in hours and can save you weeks.

So, if you want to improve your learning ask senior developers. Ask them via forums and online. Read their books and they will guide you in your journey.

Therefore, if you tried learning something before and failed then this time give your hands in the hands of your mentor and I believe this time you will be successful.

Your Ideas

So, what were your challenges when you tried learning something before and succeeded later in 2nd or 3rd attempt. Share your stories and ideas in the comments.

Without any second thought, I changed dress and started running with him. We were desperate and we push our limits on the first day. We were breathing heavily. We ran about 4 miles.

There was severe pain in my legs but we were motivated so we did not care.

Next day the motivation was gone and It’s gone for long. We never went for exercise even after months.

Do you have this kind of experience? You have started something out of desperation and then after some time leave it.

For example:

You started reading books and leave it after 1 or 2 weeks!

Or

You started dieting and didn’t bother to think about it again after one party with friends!

So why we do it- why we start something and then leave it?

This is because somewhere in our conscious mind we are thinking about our health. All of us know that exercise is good for health and we should do this. But we don’t have the time (put any other excuse here).

We learned about these healthy habits from the news or from articles. We thought in our mind that we should try these. But we never do. So these things all add up and one day they outbreak.

Psychologists called that emotional wave. We were on an emotional ride when we started running. One problem with the emotional ride is that they declined after some time. And we fall back to our old routines.

You can feel other emotional waves as well. For example, eating healthy food, wake up early, not waste your time on social media, TV, movies and etc.

As a programmer, you may experience emotional waves. For example, you want to gain experience in another technology and therefore you started a personal learning project and never finish that.

Another emotional wave for programmers is that they want to make good object oriented designs. Often I had these emotional waves but like running I could not keep up.

So in this post, I will discuss what you can do to keep up using object-oriented design(OOD) methodology and not fall victim to emotional wave.

What is stopping you?

OOD is an important skill to learn. Once you are good at it, learning frameworks will be easier. Writing maintainable code will be easy. You will feel proud of yourself.

Learning OOD as a skill will certainly lead you to the club of elite software developers.

You want to recognize yourself as someone who knows about object oriented designs. You want to see yourself in the design role.

Ok. Ok. Ok. We all know the benefits of OOD then what is stopping us? There are two kinds of factors: internal and external.

External Resisting Factors

The first external factor is your boss. Your boss does not understand OOAD. Especially if your boss is non-technical.

Your boss thinks that you are wasting resources. Because applying OOAD process will not produce a single line of code.

Most of the benefits of using OOAD are not immediate. Benefits like reusability, modularity, and testability are visible when there are changes in the code. Changes happen in future. Hence why invest in something that is not important now?

Believe me, your boss is thinking there will be no change in the code — so why extra effort?

Guess what!

You will have to update/upgrade/modify your code. In software development, the only thing that is constant is ‘CHANGE’.

Hence convincing your boss is one huge external factor.

Another external factor — not enough resources. Sometimes we believe that if we have good tools then we will be able to go for OOD.

For example, UML modeling tool. Some developers believe that if they don’t have the perfect UML designing tool they cannot design.

Internal Resisting Factors

Harder than external factors are internal factors. The first one is that nobody will appreciate you when you start applying OOD process. This is because you don’t have any concrete evidence right now to show the benefits of your code design.

External appreciation is critical to get us moving. Hence if nobody supports us during our journey then we can lose the motivation to design our software properly.

Another internal fear is that you will doubt yourself- i.e you may doubt on your design skills. You yourself don’t know if something will be any helpful in the future– as results are not imminent while you are designing.

This is truer if you are a junior developer. You only have studied about design patterns during your studies. Due to this, you are lacking experience and confidence.

Another fear is the fear of failure. I believe this is more common. I am the victim of this fear. Once I design a software where I use generalization when there was only one line of code was common in two classes. Due to this, I have to manage more classes.

I always thought – what if I failed while making this design choice and due to fear of failure – I never did it. Failing once has made me resistive to good design practices.

Too many factors, what should I do?

Yes up to now I only described the factors that resist us. First, I described that sometimes our emotions are on high point and we want to make something happen like getting fit or making good engineering design.

But the reality of the world sets in and we leave the good things for tomorrow. Which never comes.

The first thing to design better is to create self-awareness. Create awareness of the factors that can limit your ability to do things which are good for your future.

Some factors I already have mentioned above but they are not limited to these. There can be many others. Whatever they are following guideline will always help you.

How to handle external fears?

Now, to deal with external factors(your boss and etc) you have to find small opportunities. Opportunities where you can make your design better.

For example, an opportunity is when you are debugging. While debugging your code you have the opportunity to stretch time. Here you can apply design practices and make your code better.

Another opportunity is when your boss asks you about an estimate for implementing a feature. Here you can add additional time for design activities. Make sure that you only add hours or 1 to 2 days at max. Never allocate weeks for design activities.

Another opportunity is when you are set for review. This can be rare and it varies from places to places. When you are reviewing your code for any unseen problem you can refactor your code for a better OO design.

You might be thinking that how can we make a good design after all the code is written?

Well, you can make your design better at any stage of the development. An OO design is not only a one-time activity.

How to Overcome Internal Resisting factors?

To overcome internal factors the key is confidence. Believe in that whatever you are doing will be helpful. Once you have this firm believe, you will observe the benefits of OOAD over time.

This is extremely necessary if you are a junior developer. Lack of experience will make you doubt the benefits of OOD methodology. Once you have confidence and willing to give in the effort, you will reap benefits.

Once you are confident then don’t worry about what other people are thinking. You will not need external motivation to carry out your work.

Next is fear of failure.

I used to think more about failures than success. What if all the design effort that I am doing will not be helpful. What if all the additional number of classes created due to the design process will be a headache to manage!

And most scary feeling:

My boss and my colleagues will make fun of me!

Yes, I have these fears and how do I tackle them. It’s simple. Just do it. If you failed (which happens rarely) then you know that you have learned something- But if you don’t give it a shot what will you lose?

For example, you will lose:

• An experience which can get you to higher places.
• Using object-oriented programming languages in an object oriented way (Not the procedural way).
• Most importantly trying out new things in your life

Look, what I am saying is “start small”. Find the small opportunities to apply OOAD skills. Take small risks. These small tests will bring you the wealth of experience and you will be far ahead of your peers in the coming years.

So, what are the obstacles that you face? Are they internal or external.? Reply me via email or write them in the comments.

I asked questions from my parents like: “can a lion kill an elephant or crocodile or cheetah”.

Then I watch Jurassic park movie. A dinosaur can kill the lion. They were huge. They can destroy buildings as shown in movies.

What if dinosaurs are still alive! We are able to keep the ferocious animal in the zoo, like lions and tigers. We can keep the dinosaur in our control and put them in a zoo. But definitely, if alive, dinosaurs will be at the top of the food chain.

Still, there are dinosaurs in our life. We want to keep them in a zoo. They are at the top. They are our bosses. How can you keep them in your control?

I believe managing and controlling boss is part of your job. Those who knows the pleasure in controlling their boss knows what I am talking about.

It creates benefits like extra vacations. Flexible timings. Fast promotions. Learning new things on the job. And most importantly free time to explore new opportunities.

Everyone hate their bosses. Especially programmers. Your boss telling you do a lot of things in the shortest possible time. Comparing you with others.

Bosses are hard. I realise this during my first interview after graduation. The boss told me in the interview that “We are hiring you but you are a liability for first three months- since it will take three months for you to adjust in the environment learned things that we do here and the way we do things here ”.

In short, he was telling me that you will consume electricity, one PC and internet bandwidth while he was not making any money from me.

This remind me a quote from Bill Gates

“If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He does not have tenure”

Well, this is not brutal. The brutal thing is that your boss telling you things that are not technically possible. For example suppose your boss ask this: ”Why would a particular task takes so much time in C++ whereas the same task can be done quickly in Matlab”. What would you say?

Convincing your boss that Matlab is not equivalent to C++. Explaining that there is a huge difference between a lab work and production work. How Matlab has built-in features and etc etc. It could be a nightmare to explain.

It does not matter if your boss is technical or not

Well, so many times your boss is right if he is a tech savvy person. Or if your boss has programming experience. But it is rare that your boss knows all about your field.

Whether your boss knows about technicalities of your job or not. In all cases, it’s a nightmare to convince your boss to your way of doing things.

You are not alone

If you are thinking that you are the only person in the world who has this maniac boss. Then you are wrong. We all have such bosses. Consider yourself luckiest if your boss likes you from the start.

Now, How can you handle your boss? There are three options.

Option 1

You can confront your boss. Go direct. Deny orders and do the things your way.

In many cases, this will not work. Especially if you are a new hire, e.g less than 2 years, you can get fired.

Confronting strategy works if you are so senior that you makes yourself a requirement for your boss. You have dozens of good projects under your belt. You are invincible. Then you can confront and tell your boss to shut off.

Option 2

You can fire your boss. You can quit. Many people can say you are escaping the bad situation. Well changing the bad situation and not making a compromise is one solution to your problems.

Keep in mind your ultimate goals. Like learning, earning according to the market and free time to live your life.

If you can fulfil all of your goals through another job then there is no shame in firing a bad boss. This will even leave some bad reputation for your ex-boss. Someone who is leaving a job is also a sign of bad management.

Will you find the best boss next door? Not guaranteed. But your next boss could be little better than the previous one. If that does not work then change again-shamelessly.

Option 3

What if you can’t follow the above two options? This is a situation when you are not experienced enough to dictate your own terms or if you are easily replaceable ( it’s easy in programming world). That is your boss can fill your position in no time.

Another reason is you don’t want to get in the hassle of finding a new job. Then in order to put your boss under control, you will have to make few changes in daily routine.

Understand your boss’ needs and wants

First, you will have to understand from your boss’ perspective. Your boss may be stressed out because of his superiors. Your boss may have challenging goals to accomplish. Or your boss wanted the next promotion.

Find out your boss’ goals and priorities and then align your goals accordingly.

Address Your Boss’ Fears

If your boss does not have information about the programming language and frameworks/tools that you use. This could make your boss uncomfortable. Or more accurately fearful. Your boss maybe thinks that you are making a fool out of him or her. What you need to do is address this fear.

What you can do to address this fear: educate your boss about technologies. For example, tell him about the benefits of python over other languages. What you can accomplish with node.js or any other tool or platform that you use.

Secondly, educate him about the way you do things. Like why you choose one strategy that your boss is sceptical about. Share any research paper on that or a book reference on that strategy with your boss.

One important point to note here is that: don’t educate to ridicule your boss. Don’t educate like you are confronting him -especially in front of your colleagues. This can backfire.

Don’t hurt your boss ego because everybody wants to protect their ego in front of others. And someone at a higher level then you (like your boss) is supposed to know everything that you do.

If you highlight that your boss does not know anything about what you do. This will hurt your boss’ ego. Hence you have to educate your boss politely.

Illusion of control

Another thing that you can do to appease your boss is by giving your boss the illusion that they are in control and they are guiding the whole process.

For example, a year ago I was working on a challenging project. There were a few things in my mind that I was thinking of experimenting. One day my boss called me up for the discussion on the problem. In that meeting, he was discussing a technique that was already in my mind. I kept a note of it.

Next, I ran an experiment to test that technique. That was successful and bring me near to my objective. I reported my boss that the technique that he mentioned does help me out. Explaining in detail how that specific technique helped me in solving the problem.

In this way, I make my boss the part of the process and someone who has full control over the project. Afterwards, when I completed the project my boss appreciated me than ever before.

The flipside of the story: In that meeting, my boss also mentioned dozens of other techniques that a sane programmer would laugh to death. But I kept myself in control.

So by making your boss the part of the solution and giving the illusion of control, you can win your boss trust.

In addition to that, giving your boss the education and giving them the illusion of control can work together. When you keep your boss educating, it is possible that your boss gives you ideas in future from the same knowledge that you taught your boss earlier.

What can be wonderful then your boss telling you the things that you told earlier and guiding you the way you want to be. That is the state where you know that you have put your dinosaur in your little zoo.

No doubt that this strategy will take some time. You will have to give it time initially and reap the benefits in future.

So what is your experience? Have you faced a stressful situation with your boss on programming projects? If you are new in the professional programming you will face them.

If you have faced these challenges then tell me in the comments and what you do to get out of that situation.

I read every comment.