Lessons Learned from My Tech Lead: Wisdom for Developers

I've been working at a multinational American tech company for about 2 years now. These are the things that I've learned from my tech lead:

1. “Communicate like a 5-year-old." - Clarify everything. Explain things as if you're talking to a 5-year-old.
2. "Laugh at the stupid things." - Many times you'll face miscommunication, bad engineers, or just overwhelming processes which can be really stressful. You need to be able to laugh at these things.
3. "Do your best, do what you can, and if it’s too much, well… dahh... sorry." - Not everything is within your control. Don’t overwhelm yourself with impossible tasks. Just try your best and let go of what you can’t control."
4. "Years of experience often doesn’t mean anything" - Experience on paper doesn’t always reflect actual competence or skill. I've met many incompetent developers despite their years of experience.
5. "You have to be pushy, assertive" - Be like Donkey from Shrek 2: ask the same question repeatedly if needed. It might be annoying, but it gets results.

And the most important: "You only truly learn when you suffer with an issue long enough to never forget the solution."