Tip 11Learn to Fish

Lao Tzu said, “Give a man a fish; feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish; feed him for a lifetime.” That’s all well and good. But Lao Tzu left out the part where the man doesn’t want to learn how to fish and he asks you for another fish tomorrow. Education requires both a teacher and a student. Many of us are too often reluctant to be a student.

Just what is a fish in the software industry? It’s the process of using a tool or some facet of a technology or a specific piece of information from a business domain you’re working in. It’s how to check out a specific branch from your team’s source control system, or it’s getting an application server up and running for development. Too many of us take these details for granted. ...

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