Why reinvent the wheel?

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2022-01-12 18:30:18

We’re digging into the stories of accomplished engineers, founders, and executives and find out how they got to where they are in their careers.

Dan Moore is head of developer relations for FusionAuth. He’s written and contributed to numerous books, including “Letters To a New Developer”, which is full of advice he wishes he’d had when he started writing software. A former CTO, technical trainer, contractor, engineering manager and longtime developer, he's been writing software for (checks watch) over 20 years.

Once, I had a friend who brought me into a club. The specifics of the club’s goals don’t matter, but like most such clubs, it had a variety of executive roles. Someone had to run the meeting, other people had to take notes, someone needed to keep track of the finances, you get the idea.

As I took on more responsibility in this club, my friend gave me a sage piece of advice: “always be replacing yourself”. While each role requires certain skills, I shouldn’t want to hold unique knowledge. In order to keep the club going in the future, he counseled that I should always be trying to train my replacement.