Tool Smith

I'm known at work as a "tool guy" I write tools for everything. I was just reading "The Bastards book of Ruby" and the author put it extraordinarily well.

But even if you never look at that program again, here's the key advantage: For 57 of those minutes (the other two minutes being used to actually type the code), you were actively thinking, researching, and learning how to solve a problem. You may never reuse that exact code. But you've become a better programmer and thinker. The next program might take just 5 minutes to think about and write.

I think it needs repeating, when you spend the same amount of time learning something versus mindless repetition, YOU WIN, you always win, because the next time it might take you 56 minutes and you've saved yourself 1 minute of drudgery, and 2 minutes the following, you've made more connections in that noggin of yours, and you've made yourself just a little bit more valuable to your company and others around you.

Chime in I'd love to hear your thoughts.