SubscribeThere is a lot to learn
As I look back over the short career that I've had, I'm realizing that I've come a long way with my factual knowledge and with my business knowledge. In college the emphasis was on factual knowledge, and as I'm seeing now, even that was limited. What was lacking was what I'm referring to as business knowledge.
Business knowledge is something I can't quite describe, but I know it's what comes from experience in the field. It's the kind of stuff you pick up by writing code that other people will use. Let me tell you, real world people are far more critical of your work than your professors ever were.
Other people using your product still doesn't qualify as business knowledge. There's two last components in my mind that complete this equation, and that is time and need. In the real world, everyone wants something yesterday. The cliche' says that time is money, so every moment that your projects hangs out there is another dollar not in your superior's pocket. Sure, there were deadlines in college, but they were there simply because you have a finite time in each class and that the professor needs a way to track your progress. Your professor didn't need you to write a linked list structure or a quicksort algorithm by friday in order to sell a major client. He or she presumably knows how to do these things already, that's why they have the role of teacher.
Now, I want to tell you about a place called businessland. It's a place far far away from reality where mythical deadlines exist and where magical workers can produce large projects overnight. Sorry to burst your bubble folks, but this is reality. Reality is they (those people in the suits) don't understand what you are doing, they just want you to do it. They also can't understand the complexity of what they are requesting, they just want it completed.
It's not all as bad as I make it out. I don't work in a sweatshop writing code with a guy standing behind me whipping me and yelling "code, code, code..." in a methodical fashion. What I want to convey is that there's a certain pressure that doesn't exist until you get out there. Every day I'm faced with new challenges and every day I must respond to the best of my ability. Each day I deal with these various pressures, I learn more. I learn how to manage my time and how to deal with other people. I learn shortcuts as I gain familiarity with what I'm doing. All of this combined is my business knowledge. It's what helps me suck less every year. I still have a long way to go.