Open Minded

Adaptive Nature

During my keynote session at the C# Corner Annual Conference 2014, I emphasized on one line – C# Corner is an open community. And I talked about the meaning of openness and so on. In other words, on C# Corner platform, we do anything that help developers regardless of technologies and platforms.

The same message I want to pass it to the developers.

Be open to new things. Be adaptive.

Just don’t limit yourself to a single project, platform and/or technology. You may end up working for a company that has projects on multiple platforms. Your new company may have one project in .NET and other in PHP. They may be using Oracle for some projects and SQL Server for some. I have been there. So just be open minded. Learn as much as you can and be open to anything new that is thrown at you. Now, you have just become one of the most valuable assets to the company. You’re the “go-to” guy. It may sound frustrating from time to time but trust me, it’s a good thing.

If you don’t have hands on something, at least you should know what it is. It helps. If your boss asked, have you worked on Xamarin. You should be able to say, No, I have not. But I know we can build iOS, Android, and Windows Phone apps using C# language. Guess what, you just scored 8 points out of 10. Now, your boss knows, if there is a work on Xamarin, you will be the guy sitting next to him in the next meeting.

The Stereotype

It’s funny, me being a Microsoft MVP and other things I do related to Microsoft, lot of people think I do not like other platforms or technologies.

“Oh, you’ll hate this project. It’s in PHP.”

Just because I have more experience working with C# and Microsoft and just because I like to work in Microsoft space does not mean I hate open source J

I also see some people already have their mind made up. They love Apple. No matter how crappy product Apple brings, they are loyal customers. Personally, I think we should be open to trying new things and you never know. You never know until you try it.

As a PC guy, I tried Apple Macbook Pro. I didn’t like it and only used for couple of days but now I know what is feels like to work on a Macbook Pro J

So, guys just be open to trying anything.

Stop Assuming

I remember at my first job, Kruse Inc., one day my manager came to me and I replied something like “I assumed .. “

He wrote this on my whiteboard.

ASSUME = ASS + U + ME

(Making fool of both of us in front of the management.)

So, the lesson learned is, don't assume. Don't assume that the technology you're working with is "the only" best technology out there.

Conclusion

Today, technologies are changing rapidly and we developers must be on our toes to be up to date. So how can we be up to date? Not just read technical articles and documents but also read news about technologies including hardware and innovation. Our editors and writers on C# Corner are also doing a great job bringing latest industry news. As a good Cricket batsman, keep an eye on the ball but also have an idea where do you want to hit the ball.

Happy learning!

Disclaimer: Images are courtesy of Google and their owners. Thank you DJ, for allowing me to use his photo.