This month I want to highlight a short YouTube video, (Life) Advice From The Creator of C++, featuring Bjarne Stroustrup. Bjarne is one of the most impactful Computer Scientists alive, having invented C++ in 1985. In this video, Bjarne gives career advice he acquired through the decades, which I found particularly sage.

This video makes me want to discuss the act of giving advice. The more experience I gain, the more I recognize that advice acquired through experience is the advice worth giving. We may read a book and repeat that advice to others without first testing against real life, leading to errant conclusions. We may also listen to highly enthusiastic speakers guide us through tough situations, only to later realize their advice is too vague to be practical. When asked for advice, take care to give advice that is battle tested; when asking for advice, take care to understand how the advice was acquired.

Folks newer in their career will hear plenty of advice from experienced peers and leaders, and may not understand how to pick out quality advice. Bjarne’s advice in this video is both high quality and practical.

“I meet a lot of…’junior geeks’ that just think that the only thing that matters is the specialty of computing — programming or AI or graphics…And — well, it isn’t…You have to communicate. They think that if they can just write the best code, they’ll change the world. But you have to be able to listen. You have to be able to communicate with your would-be users and learn from them. And you have to be able to communicate your ideas to them.”