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Ego is getting in the way of learning

Why ego is holding your team back
October 13, 2021

A few months ago, I asked a group of programmers to do a free word association with the term ‘training’. I went into the experiment expecting to hear a mix of positive and negative words. I was wrong.

The response was almost all words that I would consider negative. Here are a few to give you a flavor: ‘Remedial’ (ouch). ‘Junior’. ‘Boring’. ‘Bootcamp’. ‘Corporate’ (this one felt particularly brutal).

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While many of these words aren’t objectively negative, from the mouths of experienced software developers, they say a resounding ‘not for me’. The association with the term ‘corporate’ suggests that training is seen as the tool of slow-moving, bureaucratic organizations, rather than nimble tech companies.

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