Comments on: The Single Most Important Career Question You Can Ask Yourself

By: Joel on Software is Shutting Down. Long Live the King. | Software by Rob

Joel on Software is Shutting Down. Long Live the King. | Software by Rob — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:37:28 +0000

[...] know he’s not going away for good; he’s a producer and producers have to produce or they go crazy. Maybe one day someone will find reams of [...]

By: Mark Rendle

Mark Rendle — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:53:48 +0000

This is true of the nuts-and-bolts coding as well as the big stuff. You can read all the books you want on TDD, refactoring and so on but that won’t make you a better programmer. But the first time you actually practise something from those books, you become better.

I’ve been learning Python recently by writing code targetting AppEngine, and Googling the things I didn’t know as I went along. I already know it far better than I know Ruby, for which I own two big fat books, but which I have never used in real life.

By: Mario T. Lanza

Mario T. Lanza — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:14:05 +0000

If you endlessly consume knowhow but never put it into practice, it’s all but pleasure reading, just a bit better than watching too much TV. This is perhaps why I’ll be as bold as to say producing—where producing is just one means of serving—is at least a little better than consuming. It parallels the proverb: It is better to give than it is to receive. Yes, both are necessary, but for the pure consumer the world ends up less well off. If we’re talking about consuming knowhow, why not selectively take in that which is intended for use and actually use it. I say this as someone who has failed to make the most of all the books I’ve read. I used to think it wise to take in so much information before venturing out, but now I think it folly. Consuming and producing should follow breathing, inhaling and exhaling until the very end.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:51:25 +0000

That seems like a totally false dichotomy. Sometimes ideas need to percolate and reading, thinking and dreaming are fuel for the fire.

By: Marketing is Design: Three Words that Increased My E-commerce Sales by 1000% Overnight | Software by Rob

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:56:43 +0000

[...] I read piles of books on internet marketing, web analytics, and copywriting. Of course, actually doing something lead to the real leaps in my understanding of how to help people move from browsers to [...]

By: Jabari

Jabari — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:46:46 +0000

I understand what you are saying, however like some other commenters, I don’t see these as mutually exclusive categories, nor do I think that if someone is a consumer, they should consign themselves to being unproductive. I would be a consumer, under your categorization, however, more due to the face that I have ADHD than anything else. I have a drive to read and learn new things and a million ideas floating around in my head that never get implemented because I can’t follow through. However, for the person with a million ideas and an inability to implement them his/her self, there is a role in which the person may still be productive. Many people who are see-ers or thinkers rather than doers are extraordinarily more adept than most at seeing and thinking. They have an ability to approach problems from novel directions. If the consumers of knowledge surround themselves with those who love to produce, this is the blueprint for success. Everyone has a niche. The trick is finding how to best exploit your strengths.

By: Consumer vs Producer « jazzynetsolutions.com

Consumer vs Producer « jazzynetsolutions.com — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:21:11 +0000

[...] recently read an article, tagged by a fellow blogger. The Single Most Important Career Question You Can Ask Yourself. The author comes to the point: Some people are consumers by nature; they consume vast quantities [...]

By: Matthew Cornell

Matthew Cornell — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:22:59 +0000

There are two reasons to take something in: To learn (change your state) or to act (change your behavior).

By: Nilesh Babu » Top 10 things to learn on January 12th

Nilesh Babu » Top 10 things to learn on January 12th — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 05:25:04 +0000

[...] The Single Most Important Career Question You Can Ask Yourself | Software by Rob – Some people are consumers by nature; they consume vast quantities of knowledge purely for learning’s sake. Others are producers; they consume knowledge with the intent of one day acting on the knowledge and producing something, be it a book, a song, a blog, a startup, etc… Neither is better than the other. [...]

By: Newly Ancient · Educating Producers

Newly Ancient · Educating Producers — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:52:38 +0000

[...] students identify whether they are a producer or consumer. This is as easy as asking a simple question: Some people are consumers by nature; they consume vast quantities of knowledge purely for [...]

By: Raven

Raven — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:27:04 +0000

You sound like me when I was kid. I think in some cases we are all producers and consumers. It’s a matter of what we are more interested in consuming and what we are more interested in producing. I think the either/or option is too limiting.

By: sundeep

sundeep — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:43:31 +0000

Interesting article. But I don’t agree with the notion that in order to be a producer you just have to jump into that role without a plan. I think people read as much material as they can to be knowledgable about a certain topic (ex. starting a business) in order to setup a reasonable plan and successfully execute.

It wouldn’t make much sense for someone to start a business without knowing too much about the market as well as where they would get funding. Statistically, a high amount of startup companies fail (and this has always been the case).

People might read hundreds of blogs/books/articles, but that doesn’t mean that every single one of those sources produces meaningful and useful content.

Also, I don’t think the problem is “not getting out there and start producing”; I think the problem is producing something of value which people would actually pay for.

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:42:00 +0000

Rob,

This post really crystallized and spoke to the process I’m going through…starting a series of business blogs.

As you can see, I’ve not posted a linked through website, purely a reflection of the current state of analysis-paralysis I’m in.

I agree that there are 2 types of people. I like to think of myself as a producer, but one who has maybe spent too much time doing leg-work and research, for now.

Thanks for the post.

By: On the 8 Spot » I Am A Producer!

On the 8 Spot » I Am A Producer! — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:23:46 +0000

[...] The Single Most Important Career Question You Can Ask Yourself | Software by Rob. [...]

By: JeremiahTolbert.com » Blog Archive » Links for 2009-1-12

JeremiahTolbert.com » Blog Archive » Links for 2009-1-12 — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:32:38 +0000

[...] The Single Most Important Career Question You Can Ask Yourself | Software by Rob Are you a producer or a consumer? If you’re reading this, I imagine you’re a producer. (tags: workproductivitymotivation) [...]

By: Pharaoh

Pharaoh — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:08:10 +0000

You make an astounding amount of sense.

By: Susan Payton, The Marketing Eggspert

Susan Payton, The Marketing Eggspert — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:05:14 +0000

Hm. I guess I am a consumer, although I read about entrepreneurship, marketing and blogging also to internalize it and use it in my practice. My question is: what do you do with this information next?

By: Vincent van Wylick

Vincent van Wylick — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:47:40 +0000

I like this post, not because I agree with you, but that it’s causing one hell of a discussion and forcing all of us to think about ourselves.

I think it ignores evolution, in the sense that the more you consume, the more critical / opinionated you become. A long-time film-consumer could become a film-critic, for instance; a long-time reader an author. The difference is indeed to jump off that ledge, but I find your classification of consumers vs. producers lacking, because it doesn’t offer answers for being happy in either. Just, “if you’re a consumer, accept it and consume.” and “if you’re a producer, take the leap and produce.” That’s not an answer as, particularly the first option is not a sustainable modus operandi in this day and age.

By: sid

sid — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 05:39:12 +0000

Thank You. This was spot on.

By: Evanalyze » Consumers vs. producers

Evanalyze » Consumers vs. producers — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 04:24:35 +0000

[...] This is a really good post that is awfully autobiographical for something I didn’t write. I’d read several books on self-publishing and writing non-fiction, and I could have a really good conversation about them, but I’d synthesized the information for knowledge-sake, rather than to act on it. That made a big difference. [...]