I still remember the first time I tried to learn how to code. Hollywood had gotten my attention with terminals, ‘cybercriminals’ and young billionaires. Somehow, I started learning PHP. It was tough: I had to change my way of perceiving reality.

When you start, you think about huge things. Building a social network, ‘hacking’ a traffic system, writing your own programming language. Still, the more experienced I was, the smaller my thoughts and projects were.

I realized my smallest contributions and projects were more impactful than huge projects filled with grandiose. Updating a README.md might seem dull or irrelevant, but is vital for any impactful project. Building the nth clone of Facebook is not.

##Beyond Programming

Thinking about small and pragmatic solutions has a deep effect on programmers’ lives. If you take human actions as ‘git commits’ , it’s easier to be more productive, manage ideas/projects and move forward with those that are successful. It doesn’t matter how small or idiotic your actions might seem; you are just trying.

Unlike Dilbert, many programmers I’ve met had great balance in their lives. They’d work, have side-projects, exercise, blog, write books, have children. Most people assumed they were insanely productive geniuses. Instead, they just took one step at a time.

For those that founded a company, their tiny contributions ended up building something interesting. There was no ingenious plan of what would happen in the next years. Their first lines of code were written to build something , not a multinational technology corporation active in 40 industries.

##The unfortunate ones

Behind programmers and entrepreneurs, we still have generations lacking small/pragmatic thinking. ‘Go Big or Go Home’ sounds nice, but it hurts young people every single day.

Many self-loathing millenials are lead to believe they must always achieve greatness - their ultimate career. ‘Small contributions’ are seen as shameful and ignoble actions. You must always do ‘what you were meant to do’.

In their mindset, If one is an intern, he shouldn’t be working on some dull paperwork or PowerPoint presentation. Instead, he should be managing projects, improving a process by 150%, talking to investors,… You got my point.

##Last words

I’m grateful to have learnt PHP as a teenager: it’s been a crucial tool. Even when I’m not writing software, I still think in small, pragmatic actions.

However, I don’t take it as ‘competitive advantage’. Instead, I hope my friends realize there’s no need to change the world in their 20s or punish themselves for ‘not achieving greatness’.