This came up a couple of times tonight at dinner. It’s important to know your strengths and weaknesses. Even if you would love to do X, if you suck at it, maybe you should just focus on excelling at Y.
Tonight, I was asked, “Brian, why don’t you take on any side work?”
I have a pretty strict zero side work policy. As a Flash developer, opportunities come to me regularly, and I do my best to deflect them to other local Flash developers. It makes sense for people to wonder why. There’s money in front of my face and I’m not reaching out to get it.
There are several reasons I don’t do side work. First of all, I don’t need the money. I make enough to get by with my day job, so I would rather spend the rest of my time on me — traveling, going out, working on personal side-projects. However, I could work about the same amount, have just as much free time, but make more money if I freelanced.
I know my limitations. I know what I’m good at and what I’m not good at. I’m good at making stuff move with code. I’m good at turning someone’s idea (“It should move like this.”) into a reality. I’m not good at keeping organized. I’m not good at paperwork. I’m not good at maintaining client relationships.
Maybe I should get over these problems at some point, but for now, I focus on what I’m good at and avoid what I’m not good at. And it works.
I get asked from time to time, “Brian, you’re the organizer of [some event], right?”
People know I’m involved with a lot of the tech events around Phoenix. Even when I’m not, I try to help spread the word. With only one recent exception (I stepped up to organize SustainaBIL at the last second when the organizer realized he was going to be out of town), I haven’t organized any events.
I know my limitations. I know what I’m good at and what I’m not good at. I’m good at taking tasks and getting things done. I’m good at connecting people with the resources they need. I’m good at coming up with and vetting ideas. I’m not good at organizing. I’m not good at following up and keeping the ball rolling. I’m not good at leading the charge and getting people to take orders from me.
So I stay where I’m most valuable. I’ll perch on the captain’s shoulder and squawk ideas into his/her ear. I’ll swab the deck or pitch the anchor. More specifically, I’ll help line up speakers, or design & build web sites, or live stream & live tweet events, or pick up food, or hand-craft badges, or program a Twitter wall. That seems to work.
There’s merit to saying, “if you’re not good at something, try harder or find methods to do it,” but it can also be a good idea to step back and avoid causing a disaster.
It’s good that people know their strengths and weaknesses and to utilize those to the best of their ability.
You do that well and I’m pretty sure it’s unanimous around here that your help and involvement is more than welcomed and appreciated.
Why thank you, Chuck. While I doubt it’s unanimous, I hear good things from people I respect, and that more than suffices.