You're Testing in Production With Your Career

The uncomfortable truth about how successful people actually improve

Imagine trying to repair a jet engine while flying at 35,000 feet.

That's what career growth feels like today—you're expected to improve critical systems while they're running at full speed, with no chance to practice in a simulator first.

In sports, music, and many other disciplines, there's a clear distinction between practice and performance. Athletes spend countless hours in the gym before stepping onto the field. Musicians rehearse endlessly before taking the stage. But in our careers, especially in tech, every day is both practice and performance.

For my software developers out there, we're testing in prod and rolling fixes forward for critical career skills.

We're trying to repair that airplane while it's in the air.

An SDE-II I coached was struggling with this exact challenge. Let's name him Victor. Victor was getting feedback that he was being…