I recently took down a pool fence. It required cutting sections of steel fencing, removing rusty nuts from large bolts in the ground and walls, and cutting bolts. I had been delaying this job for a long time because I’m not a handyman and I don’t have many tools. I had to buy a new wrench and I had to find something to cut the bolts and the fence. Fortunately, my neighbor had the cutting tool and was willing to let me borrow it. As I spent the better part of Saturday afternoon working, I couldn’t help but think about the saying, “To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
I’ve worked with a lot of programmers and programmer types in my career and I’ve found that there are many who have a single tool in their box. It may be a programming language or it may be a toolkit or it may be an application that can be scripted or customized with macros. For those people, the solution to every problem is always considered from the point of view of their favorite tool. The best software developers, however, have a rich set of tools and a mindset to approach solutions from multiple perspectives. Sometimes the solution is based on a toolkit or application. Sometimes it’s best served by writing a new application in a high-level programming language. Sometimes it requires working at the database level with triggers or stored procedures.
When presented with a problem, the best developers don’t rush to their toolbox. Instead, the best programmers identify the scope of the problem, consider several options and ask colleagues for input — perhaps borrowing the right tool — before developing a solution.
It’s an amazingly rewarding experience to accomplish something new and acquire a new skill. I suppose I could have taken down my pool fence using nothing but a big hammer, but the result would have been disappointing and I would have learned nothing new. By contrast, I found a great deal of satisfaction in the process of doing something I’ve never done before — and I love the results. It’s likely that I’ll never take down another pool fence in my lifetime, but I learned a few skills that I can apply to all kinds of project that might come up in the future.
When is the last time you added a new tool to your box?
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