DEV Community: Nick Wu

Adaptability: an overlooked virtue

Nick Wu — Sat, 02 May 2020 10:32:10 +0000

It has been since I sat down to write an article properly, since most of my off-work time has been put into my podcast. With the lockdown situation continuing for the foreseeable future, production has been a bit more difficult, so I thought I give the good old blogging another shot. This week I want to discuss adaptability, a virtue that I rarely see discussed in the industry and in my opinion absolutely essential to being a productive software engineer.

This article is a mix of my personal experiences and proper reasoning and arguments, which is how I like to write. That being said, I am sure not everyone is interested in my individual life, so feel free to skip past any anecdote and stories. And without further ado, let's begin!

How did I come across this?
"Sure, but why do I have to be adaptable?"
Adaptability for software engineers
"Great! So how do I become more adaptable?"
Closing words

How did I come across this?

The topic of adaptability is by no means a sudden choice, and goes back to a couple years ago for me. In 2013 I was applying to various universities around the world, and one of the most common questions on the applications was

What is your biggest strength?

I spent a good few weeks thinking about this. Is it hardworking that helped my grades, or honesty that led me to good friends? I came up with more virtues as a 17-year-old possibly could, but none of them seemed to be the answer for me.

The answer came to me, as many others do, in the form of an episode of The Big Bang Theory:

"I am nothing if not adaptable."

Comic as it may be when Sheldon said it reacting to being pranked with unexpected dinner choice, I found this to be very true for myself. Moving to a city by myself a year earlier, I needed to adapt to a new environment and lifestyle. And with the prospect of moving again for uni, I felt like my ability to get comfortable and productive wherever I am were the best edge I had.

Consciously or otherwise, the following few years did prove exactly that. I have moved a few more times for various reasons, and I can confidently say that I have adapted to each to the best of my abilities. Recently I came across a post about taking feedback in code reviews, and added a comment about how I adapted to it since I started working full time as a software engineer.

Dude, I'm slagging your code. Not you.

Demian Brecht ・ Apr 11 ・ 4 min read

#career #reviews #productivity #mentorship

With this tiny reminder, I felt like it was time to offer my own two cents with a proper post.

"Sure, but why do I have to be adaptable?"

It’s only natural

Before getting into detail about how adaptability is crucial in the tech industry, there is a fundamental point to made here. Humans, or any other organisms for that matter, have been adapting for as long as history can tell: "Survival of the fittest". We are always adapting to the situation, and changing our ways to make the best of things. Adaptability isn't a special skill that you have to learn; everyone has it already. It's only natural.

The tech world changes too often

As a software engineer, we have all heard and experienced how fast and drastically the tech world changes (remember when you have to dial the phone to get on the Internet?). Languages, frameworks, technologies come and go all the time. Sooner or later, you come to a point where what you know isn't useful anymore. As Albert Einstein said:

The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.

For example, for the longest time I thought a backend server is where you put your business logic, and there is no other way. When I approach a new project, I always put up a server in some VM, and it just felt right. Then a couple years ago, SaaS (Software as a Service) came out of nowhere for me. Suddenly you can just write individual functions and expose them to your client, without the form of a server at all. I couldn't not see the benefits of this approach, and gradually shifted my thinking to that. Painful as it was in the beginning, this went on to boost my productivity to a whole new level. Adapt yourself my friend, there's always fruit for your labour.

Adaptability as software engineers

I hope now you are more convinced about the usefulness of being adaptable. But what does it mean to be an "adaptable software engineer"? This is by no means a complete list, but what I consider the strongest indicators from other engineers that I look up to:

Mindful of constraints

Software is written to solve problems, and there are many ways to solve the same problem. An adaptable engineer is aware of the particular constraints of the problem: latency, computing resources, or even availability of the team. With this in mind they move to find the best option that suits these constraints. Most of the time these constraints pop up unexpectedly, and they must quickly understand them, and readjust to make sure nothing blows up.

Shifting technical thinking

Software development is a bigger field than most of us realize, and you will encounter problems in areas that you probably did not know existed before. An adaptable engineer is able to shift their technical mindset into a particular field, and analyze the problem in the appropriate domain language. If it is a user interface problem, then they think in a matter of time and events. If the problem is about complex logic, they think in a matter of data and flow.

Wear many hats

Code is only one thing that we interact with day-to-day; there are also other engineers, designers, users, and many more. An adaptable engineer is able to communicate to each front in an effective way, acting as a interpreter of sort. They understand what users want, and translate it into hard logic to machine.

Not always passive

Adapting seems like a reactionary action, but the truth is far from it. An adaptable engineer keeps a keen eye for improvements, whether it is code or the product. They know that adapting does not only happen in the dark days, and in fact continuous improvements is a better route to success than a pinch overhaul.

"Great! So how do I become more adaptable?"

I believe one does not become adaptable in a day, and many of these indicators seem too hard to achieve. Honestly, I am also in the very early stage of my career, and I have no clue how one stays adaptable 10 years down the line, having moved from position to position. But below are a few advice that I have, many of which were given to me by the best engineers that I know.

Don't be afraid to change

The first and the most important principle of being adaptable is willing to do so. Way too often we hung on to our intellectual products, because we thought and worked hard for it. As Adam Hunt wrote in The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master:

The greatest of all weaknesses is the fear of appearing weak.

Just like the post that inspired this one, the code that we wrote does not always represent us as engineers. The decisions we made earlier might not be the best now, most of the time through no fault of our own. Rather than disregarding the risks and persistently sticking to our guts, we might have a better chance if we listened and adjusted.

Keep your eye at the goal

A cliche phase I know, but I have found this be a incredibly useful principle for calibrating yourself. When you are presented with a problem, understand the core of the problem itself. And when you are trying to solve it, and having to adapt to various constraints, always remember whatever you shift to do should help you get closer to solving the core problem. In the past I have had episodes where I tried to change direction when hitting a roadblock, forgot what I needed to solve in the first place, and ended up with something totally unusable. Don't make my mistake.

Do it often

Inertia is an ironically powerful force. You should be looking out for opportunities for adjustments, rather than being forced to one when your car has metaphorically ground to a halt. A useful tip that I have adopted is having sync with manager/colleague periodically (weekly or bi-weekly for me), in which I talk about my recent productivity, what's lacking, what's coming my way, and how I should adapt. If I ask for advice, more or less we can come up with a few things to change, and over time I have grown to a better engineer because of them.

Closing words

I hope this post has given you a think about adaptability as a software engineer. In my opinion this is one of the most productive qualities one can cultivate. If you have any thoughts and experience, I would love to hear about them!

Before you click out, I want to leave you with a quote from Bruce Lee, one of my personal idols:

You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.

Originally published on my personal site. Also recorded in audio.

Compile Podcast Ep 14: First year of code

Nick Wu — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 10:08:36 +0000

This week Brennan joins me again to talk about our first year of coding professionally, our experiences and thoughts!

Reach out to us!

Subscribe and stay tuned! Also send in any comment or request for new topics and we will try our best to make them happen!

My Twitter: https://twitter.com/WujunaoNick

This Podcast is also on:

Compile Podcast Ep 13: Learning a programming language

Nick Wu — Sat, 18 Apr 2020 10:00:52 +0000

This week Jasper and I talk about our experiences in learning programming languages, and how you can pick up a new programming language during the quarantine!

Breakpoints

00:00 Chill zone and catching up
02:14 why learn a programming language
16:33 How do we learn new languages
36:19 Wrapping up

Reach out to us!

Subscribe and stay tuned! Also send in any comment or request for new topics and we will try our best to make them happen!

My Twitter: https://twitter.com/WujunaoNick

This Podcast is also on:

Compile Podcast Ep 12: How to avoid quarantine gut?

Nick Wu — Sat, 11 Apr 2020 08:43:26 +0000

This week my friend Yuekun and I talk more about maintaining a healthy diet during the quarantine, and how to avoid getting a quarantine gut!

Breakpoints

00:32 Chill zone and catching up
07:26 Topic intro: how to avoid quarantine gut
12:50 A balanced diet
16:50 "Eat your vegetables"
19:30 Yuekun recommends a few staple vegetables
38:38 How to correctly limit total caloric intake
44:45 Enjoy your food
47:41 Counting calories work, but don’t count on it
53:46 Consider using supplements
57:58 Wrapping up

Links in this episode:

Great video from Vietnam about Covid-19
Yuekun's Instagram

Reach out to us!

Subscribe and stay tuned! Also send in any comment or request for new topics and we will try our best to make them happen!

My Twitter: https://twitter.com/WujunaoNick

This Podcast is also on:

Compile Podcast Ep 11: Can WFH be productive?

Nick Wu — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 09:29:38 +0000

This week my good friend John joins me again to talk about how to be productive while Working from home during the times of quarantine!

Breakpoints

00:42 Chill zone and catching up
02:45 Topic intro: productivity while working from home
03:20 Our WFH experiences
10:35 Establish a clean cut between work and life
- 16:08 Having a dedicated work area
- 19:40 Get some fresh air/change of scenery
23:05 Keep your work routine
25:35 Take a breather before starting work
28:58 Our typical work day during the quarantine
35:00 Get your remote toolkit ready
44:15 Be social and avoid loniness
46:34 Distractions and how to moderate them
54:09 "Compile" time

Reach out to us!

Subscribe and stay tuned! Also send in any comment or request for new topics and we will try our best to make them happen!

My Twitter: https://twitter.com/WujunaoNick

This Podcast is also on:

Compile Podcast Ep 10: Staying fit at home

Nick Wu — Sat, 28 Mar 2020 10:35:40 +0000

This week my friend Yuekun and I talk more about fitness at home and how you can avoid "isolation gut"!

Breakpoints

01:00 Chill zone and catching up
05:00 Topic intro: staying fit at home
07:20 Why staying fit is so important, especially now
- 08:25 A Strong immune system
- 11:40 Nick's experience with momentum and inertia
- 16:17 Lack of activity leads to general health problems
26:42 Yuekun's very own exercise routines
- 29:41 Stretches
- 37:20 How to get a good stretch?
- 39:00 Slow steady cardio
- 42:21 Basic and intermediate workouts
- 45:00 Results with the routines for Yuekun's parents
49:19 Nick and Yuekun share their current routines
56:43 Wrapping up

Links in this episode:

Great video that explains Coronavirus
Home exercise routines designed by Yuekun himself
Yuekun's Instagram

Reach out to us!

Subscribe and stay tuned! Also send in any comment or request for new topics and we will try our best to make them happen!

My Twitter: https://twitter.com/WujunaoNick

This Podcast is also on:

Compile Podcast Ep 9: Workout and Productivity

Nick Wu — Sat, 21 Mar 2020 09:45:47 +0000

This is reposted from my personal site.

This week my friend Yuekun and I talk about working out and how it impacts your productivity!

Breakpoints

00:00 A little foreword
01:00 Podcast Intro
02:25 What happens when you don't work out
- 02:54 Prone to chronical injuries
- 04:03 Mental stress from getting stuck at work
- 05:16 Lack of discipline and confidence
07:25 "Does working out make you more tired actually?"
09:19 Benefits to productivity from working out
- 09:53 It is important to spend some time away from work
- 10:08 Science of health benefits
- 11:37 Nick's personal journey of working out
- 13:29 Benefits to developers
- 18:32 Discovering hidden points
- 21:35 Cultivate a healthy respect to time management and building habits
27:54 What time of day would be the best for workout if you have live a 9-5 life?
37:56 Wrapping up

Reach out to us!

Subscribe and stay tuned! Also send in any comment or request for new topics and we will try our best to make them happen!

My Twitter: https://twitter.com/WujunaoNick

This Podcast is also on:

Compile Podcast Ep 8: Anxiety -- How to deal with it?

Nick Wu — Sat, 14 Mar 2020 10:59:09 +0000

This is reposted from my personal site.

In this week's episode Jasper and I talk about our experiences with anxiety, and tips about dealing with it mentally and practically!

Breakpoints

00:25 Chill zone
07:20 Mindset towards stress and anxiety
- 08:55 "Everyone has it"
- 11:35 Acknowledge your anxiety
- 14:44 Find out the root of stress
- 21:30 "It's not the end of the world"
- 23:00 "Don't suffer twice"
- 24:25 "You will not remember what you were worried about last week"
28:40 Practical tips to deal with anxiety
- 28:58 Breathing exercise
- 33:40 Find distraction and keep busy
- 38:05 Talk about your anxiety
- 41:15 Don't be afraid to seek help
- 42:25 "Running away is shameful, but useful" (use with caution)
45:45 "Compile" time
46:34 Personal favourite

Links in this episode:

"The art of breathing" by Dr Danny Penman: amazon
"The Internship" movie
Hungarian proverb: "Running away is shameful, but useful"

Reach out to us!

Subscribe and stay tuned! Also send in any comment or request for new topics and we will try our best to make them happen!

My Twitter: https://twitter.com/WujunaoNick

This Podcast is also on:

Compile Podcast Ep 7: Hobbies -- What we do when we are not working

Nick Wu — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 15:32:44 +0000

This is reposted from my personal site.

Hello everyone! Welcome to the Compile Podcast, a show where 2 programmers talk about anything and everything!

In this week's episode Jasper and I talk about our hobbies when we are not coding, and what you can do to find a hobby for yourself!

Breakpoints

00:58 Why is a hobby important, espeically for a developer
11:27 How do I go about finding a hobby?
21:17 Jasper and I talk about our hobbies
- 21:25 Technical hobbies
- 28:15 Non-technical hobbies
42:40 Wrap up

Links in this episode:

Developer forum that I follow: dev.to
"The Phoenix Project": amazon, audible book
Recipe for the Chocolate Lava cake we made for In this week's episode Jasper and I talk about our hobbies when we are not coding, and what you can do to find a hobby for yourself!

Reach out to us!

Next week we will have a new guest with a new topic! So subscribe and stay tuned! Also send in any comment or request for new topics and we will try our best to make them happen!

My Twitter: https://twitter.com/WujunaoNick

This Podcast is also on:

Compile Podcast Ep 6: Developer Health

Nick Wu — Sun, 23 Feb 2020 15:47:02 +0000

This is reposted from my personal site.

Hello everyone! Welcome to the Compile Podcast, a show where 2 programmers talk about anything and everything!

In this episode, we talk about Developer Health. We discuss the mindset towards health as developers and give coding and non-coding related tips.

Next week we will have a new topic to discuss! So subscribe and stay tuned!

My Twitter

This Podcast is also on:

Links in this episode:

"Why we sleep" book

My recommended audio book

Compile Podcast Ep 5: Developer Workflow

Nick Wu — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 15:11:18 +0000

This is reposted from my personal site.

Hello everyone! Welcome to the Compile Podcast, a show where 2 programmers talk about anything and everything!

In this episode, we talk about Developer Workflow with a great guest. We discuss the differences between uni and industry software projects, with some funny stories and some helpful tips, whether you are working or studying.

Next week we will have a new guest with a new topic! So subscribe and stay tuned!

My Twitter: https://twitter.com/WujunaoNick

This Podcast is also on:

Google Play Music: https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ifd5mlxhgc5cmlsytadsglqfd4y
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-compile-podcast/id1436437367

Breakpoints

00:00 Intro.
00:40 Catch up with John.
06:07 Developer Workflow: how we do software projects.
- 06:42 Uni vs industry project workflow
- 18:48 Main framework: waterfall + agile
- 25:04 The main stages of a typical software project
- 52:04 “Compile down to essentials”.
53:10 Pick and Plug.

Links in this episode:

The Mythical Man-Month: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month\

Waterfall development process: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model

Agile development process: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development

John and Steve’s podcast “The Discomfortable Zone”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-discomfortable-zone-podcast/id1294539931?mt=2.

Own your problems

Nick Wu — Sun, 21 Apr 2019 21:34:45 +0000

Originally published on my personal site.

Previously we have discussed Impostor Syndrome in this blog, and today I want to talk about one specific way to overcome it: owning your problems.

How this came to be?

I must admit that this idea wasn't original. I was having a conversation with my manager a few weeks ago, about how exactly I can be a more effective engineer in the team. This was one of the suggestions that he offered:

You should look into your own the problem that you are solving. Collaborate with the others, but be the driving force in solving the problem.

This got me thinking about my work style in the last few projects. Being a junior engineer and the newest member in the team, I was deferring to other engineers quite often, both in terms of design and implementation. Although this helped us delivering the projects in time, I don't feel like I am actually contributing to "solving" the problem per se, but rather just solidifying ideas from other engineers. Worse still, I notice that I have grown into an awful habit: when I hit a problem that is not obvious in the first sight, my instinct is to ask someone else. In other words, I was not owning the problem that I am supposed to solve, but rather dragging other people into my problem.

But why was I doing this? I reflected on my thinking when this would happen, and I realized that I was afraid of owning the problem. I might not be able to come up with a solution at all, or worse, I might come up with something completely wrong and mess things up. Therefore, it is safer to seek help from someone who knows better. Although this logic isn't technically wrong, it only solves the problem at hand in the short term, and I wouldn't grow to be independent to take on other problems in the future.

Once I realized that my way of work needed change, I consciously made sure that I ask less, and try to do more research on whatever problem that I was solving. The effect showed surprisingly quickly, only after about a week. Although it was taking slightly longer to solve individual problems, I was actually able to solve almost every problem that came to me, without asking other engineers all the time. And from the team's perspective, the productivity has gone up, since everyone else in the team is not spending their time to answer me.

Another bonus that I have found that this actually extends beyond just work. When I was looking for flats to move into a couple of weeks ago, I realized that I didn't need to consult my friends and family about every single flat, which I had been doing up to then. I listed down the criteria that I was looking for, and just made my own decision. The takeaway is this applies to literally any problem that you are facing, be it at work, in life, etc.

So, What can you do?

Hopefully my story has encouraged you to take an initiative in owning your problems. Below I list a few tips that I think will help you in getting started.

Start with a mental shift

To make any tangible change, you must change the way you think first. I complete get all the concerns that you may have towards taking on a problem solo. In fact, these are the mental hurdles that I went through myself:

What if I don't know how to solve it?

Now, I do believe that I have the ability to solve most problems that come my way, at least at work. You are smarter than you realize, if you really stretch your mind. Have faith in yourself.

What if I screw up?

Even if you get a wrong answer, you are not going to "screw up". Things are not as bad as you think. Conversely, if you get it right by yourself, it would be a great confidence boost for you to take on more problems.

Ask yourself what exactly is stopping you from owning the problem. Once you enunciate it out loud, it will be easier to analyze its validity. And most likely you are over-worrying, which is quite normal if you are new to the field or problem space.

Develop a process to deal with the unfamiliar

When you are facing a problem that involves a lot of unfamiliar places, it can be disorientating and confusing. The trick to deal with this, in my own experience, is to develop a "process" to go through.

Take a technical problem for example. Understanding the problem at first is crucial for me. I would do some research at first to get the context, and clarify what exactly the problem is, and which parts of the system are relevant to it. Once I nail down the general area I will dig deeper into each part, usually by reading doc and code. At this point I would know how the parts work currently, and what exactly it needs to work to solve the problem. Having this mental "diff" makes things a lot easier.

When I understand the problem I can think about changes to the system in order to solve it. Usually, there are many ways to solve one problem, each with pros and cons. Listing these out and comparing them will be a good way to see if there's an optimal solution. Often times tradeoffs have to be made, and now you may need to consult someone else. Having the context, the problem definition, all the approaches with pros and cons is a good way for other engineers to quickly follow up with everything and offer suggestions.

Don't be a lone wolf

Having encouraged you to own the problem, I do want to point out to not be too extreme with this. There are problems that you need help with, and that's part of the process too. At some point you might realize that you lack some crucial information, and you cannot find it easily. Then it is better to ask someone, rather than reading thousands of lines of code to draw your own insight. A balance must be held, but my point is to at least consider solving it by yourself.

Last few words

I hope you start to take ownership of your problems after reading this post. I am still finding a good balance myself too, and would love to know how you feel about this. Let me know on Twitter, or email me directly!

DEV Community: Nick Wu

Adaptability: an overlooked virtue

Table of Contents

How did I come across this?

Dude, I'm slagging your code. Not you.

Demian Brecht ・ Apr 11 ・ 4 min read

"Sure, but why do I have to be adaptable?"

It’s only natural

The tech world changes too often

Adaptability as software engineers

Mindful of constraints

Shifting technical thinking

Wear many hats

Not always passive

"Great! So how do I become more adaptable?"

Don't be afraid to change

Keep your eye at the goal

Do it often

Closing words

Compile Podcast Ep 14: First year of code

Reach out to us!

Compile Podcast Ep 13: Learning a programming language

Breakpoints

Reach out to us!

Compile Podcast Ep 12: How to avoid quarantine gut?

Breakpoints

Links in this episode:

Reach out to us!

Compile Podcast Ep 11: Can WFH be productive?

Breakpoints

Reach out to us!

Compile Podcast Ep 10: Staying fit at home

Breakpoints

Links in this episode:

Reach out to us!

Compile Podcast Ep 9: Workout and Productivity

Breakpoints

Reach out to us!

Compile Podcast Ep 8: Anxiety -- How to deal with it?

Breakpoints

Links in this episode:

Reach out to us!

Compile Podcast Ep 7: Hobbies -- What we do when we are not working

Breakpoints

Links in this episode:

Reach out to us!

Compile Podcast Ep 6: Developer Health

Links in this episode:

Compile Podcast Ep 5: Developer Workflow

Breakpoints

Links in this episode:

Own your problems

How this came to be?

So, What can you do?

Start with a mental shift

What if I don't know how to solve it?

What if I screw up?

Develop a process to deal with the unfamiliar

Don't be a lone wolf

Last few words