Be Sensitive To Pain

I find that too many devs have lost, or never learned, to be sensitive to the pain of bad processes and tools.

The mindset of "That's just how it is" is too prevalent among developers, and it's holding them back. It's holding teams and companies back.

All the great tools, frameworks, and packages that you love came from someone thinking "I could do better". Just because something already exists or is the standard doesn't mean it's infallible.

The same concept applies to processes. Maybe the deployment process at your current role is tedious and hard to use. Why not push for change?

You need to have a maker's mindset, not a user mindset. Very few things give you as much fulfillment as creating something rather than consuming.

We as a community need to raise our standards for what we expect out of the tools we use, and fill in the gaps where we see them.

If a package is crappy and hard to use, make your own.

If a tool doesn't fit your needs, learn a new one or make one.

If something lacks documentation, write it. Or make your own version that does have good documentation.

If a process is difficult, come up with a better solution.

The path to becoming a great developer is filled with challeges to come up with better solutions for problems that are perceived to be "solved". Take them on with passion and competence.