What do software engineering and making tea have in common? On the surface not much. Software engineering requires building code that is resilent to change and is proven to work all while tracking moving requirements, cross tream dependencies, and the ever shifting software ecosystem.
Making tea seems simple by comparison. Find some quality leaves, put them in hot water, and wait until done
Surprisingly they have a lot more in common than one would think. Building software well requires learning what good code is and recognizing what is worth fixing and what is likely to change. Making tea requires learning how those leaves respond to different water temperatures, brewing times, and even brewing methods.
Both of these arts require mindful practice and dicipline to master. In fact my favorite brewing method is a form of Chinese tea making called gong-fu cha. Which literally means making tea with skill, or making tea through mindful practice.
Where am I going with this you might ask? There is a quality to great engineers I have noticed. Our hobbies often require this mindful practice. I have seen a surprising overlap in the technology space with how my peers and I all spend our free time.
These are all activities outside of our jobs that require the same kind of practice and dicipline to master. While we love building software, I think it is something more fundamental, we thrive of incremental improvment, and slowly mastering a skill. Whether from a traditional CS degree, bootcamp, or self taught, the best engineers I have had the delight of working with all shared these traits.
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