Thanks for including Communication Skills in your list. When I advise my students as they register for classes, they often make comments like "I don't really like history" or "Why do we have to take so much English?" If they make the history comment, I tell them that everyone has his or her own interests, but it is important to have a broad education and that history is important to put corrent events into a meaningful context. But if they make the English comment, they get a mini lecture about the importance of communication skills. Regardless of your job, you will need to communicate effectively. Indeed in nearly all aspects of your life you will be judged to one degree or another based on your ability to communicate.
Daniel Miessler
· 3 years ago
Agreed. It's the super-skill that everyone needs.
brad
· 3 years ago
I just wanted to say that these also definately apply directly to attempting to be a "programming guru" there is sooo much out there and you can wreck it if you are afraid to commit wholly to this doctrine. To give my opinion on each of these points...
be passionate about it - I can not even begin to decribe the out-of-work work that I do. I spend easily 10-20 hours/wk at my favorite local coffee shop simply studying material and learning more about optimization and other things that interest me within the field. I also work endlessly on writing code and researching for my personal benefit. I do this b/c I love programming.
Be An Engineer, Not A Technician - This should go without saying. If you don't understand how your code works, you don;t understand your code. You also, without knowing the way things work, are lessening your ability to improvise and create more efficient and effective solutions. Example - you can live without regular expressions, but if you do, you are an idiot.
Don’t Be Intimidated By Anything - Intimidation leads ultimately to ignorance. If you let something that you do not understand intimidate you, You are missing out on an opportunity to further your abilities and hone your skill set. Combine Book Knowledge with Hands-On - I couldn't agree more with this. I can "accidentally" learn all kinds of great tricks and pick up great reasoning behind things by reading through a good programming book. I can also take a book with me in places that I have no wireless signal (airplane, roadtrip, etc.).
Sharpen Your Communication Skills - I completely agree with Dr. M on this one. Without good communication skills, you have no ability to express your intentions or plans for implementation of a project to a group. You may also run into trouble when trying to get a projects expectations from a customer. Then there is the fact that without a decent ability to communicate your knowledge and talents, you are setting yourself up for failure when it comes to finding a job in the first place. Overall, without the ability to communicate effectively, you will always sell yourself short.
Keep In Mind That There Are People Out There That Make You Look Silly - All the time. But, without that, what motivation (other than a passion for the field) do you have to improve? People often seem to get lazy when they are in an obvoiusly dominant position. I also feel that, by thinking that you are "the best guy out there" you are closing off a lot of doors simply because if someone feels this way, they are often of the mindset that anyone that they discuss something with knows less than they do and can't possibly teach themanything new and interesting. This is wrong.
To wrap up here, I can say that these are definately rules to live by, and that everyone that want to be a "guru" in their given field should take note of these rules and find a way to apply them to their everyday lives. And that, good sir, would be my two cents.
--tbwolfe
joat
· 3 years ago
Assign yourself weekly homework: learn a new command line tool or technique, read somebody's paper, sniff your own traffic and pick out something you don't recognize, read a book - write down any idea or question you have while reading it and after you're done reading, add those thoughts/questions to your homework list.
Once per month, research/learn something only remotely related (or completely unrelated) to security or systems administration (current laws, court procedure, growing roses, fishing, raising worms, music appreciation, etc.). It'll round you out as a person.
All Comments
be passionate about it - I can not even begin to decribe the out-of-work work that I do. I spend easily 10-20 hours/wk at my favorite local coffee shop simply studying material and learning more about optimization and other things that interest me within the field. I also work endlessly on writing code and researching for my personal benefit. I do this b/c I love programming.
Be An Engineer, Not A Technician - This should go without saying. If you don't understand how your code works, you don;t understand your code. You also, without knowing the way things work, are lessening your ability to improvise and create more efficient and effective solutions. Example - you can live without regular expressions, but if you do, you are an idiot.
Don’t Be Intimidated By Anything - Intimidation leads ultimately to ignorance. If you let something that you do not understand intimidate you, You are missing out on an opportunity to further your abilities and hone your skill set.
Combine Book Knowledge with Hands-On - I couldn't agree more with this. I can "accidentally" learn all kinds of great tricks and pick up great reasoning behind things by reading through a good programming book. I can also take a book with me in places that I have no wireless signal (airplane, roadtrip, etc.).
Sharpen Your Communication Skills - I completely agree with Dr. M on this one. Without good communication skills, you have no ability to express your intentions or plans for implementation of a project to a group. You may also run into trouble when trying to get a projects expectations from a customer. Then there is the fact that without a decent ability to communicate your knowledge and talents, you are setting yourself up for failure when it comes to finding a job in the first place. Overall, without the ability to communicate effectively, you will always sell yourself short.
Keep In Mind That There Are People Out There That Make You Look Silly - All the time. But, without that, what motivation (other than a passion for the field) do you have to improve? People often seem to get lazy when they are in an obvoiusly dominant position. I also feel that, by thinking that you are "the best guy out there" you are closing off a lot of doors simply because if someone feels this way, they are often of the mindset that anyone that they discuss something with knows less than they do and can't possibly teach themanything new and interesting. This is wrong.
To wrap up here, I can say that these are definately rules to live by, and that everyone that want to be a "guru" in their given field should take note of these rules and find a way to apply them to their everyday lives. And that, good sir, would be my two cents.
--tbwolfe
Once per month, research/learn something only remotely related (or completely unrelated) to security or systems administration (current laws, court procedure, growing roses, fishing, raising worms, music appreciation, etc.). It'll round you out as a person.