You Can Learn A Lot For The Low Price Of Your Ego With Shawn Wang

You can learn in private, or you can learn in public. 99% of developers work and learn privately in the shadows, so why shouldn't you? Something magical happened when Shawn started creating resources and sharing what he learned in public. More advanced people began to help him by correcting him when he was wrong. By learning publically, he was able to both teach and learn at the same time!

"You can learn so much on the internet for the low, low price of your ego." If you keep your identity small, you can remain open to new ideas. If you make what you know a part of your identity, being receptive to new ideas and accepting that you were wrong becomes challenging.

Go beyond writing blog posts, they are educational, but their lifespan is limited. Write the resource that you wish existed while you are learning something. Write documentation, create cheat-sheets, these things not only provide immense value to people who are learning, but they also connect you to the authors of the technology who didn't have the time to create those resources. People start to perceive you as an authority on the subject when you make these things, which makes people also want to hire you for your expertise on the subject.

If you want to learn from professionals, then make it worth their time! Kent talks about how he'd record "tech chats" with developers and upload them to Youtube. Having an audience opens up the doors for opportunities!