Hey there, Hot Shot. Chill. It’s me. I’m you — from the future. Seven years ahead, 2025.
It’s what… 2018? Right. I know you’re feeling high and mighty after shipping something really hard and important for the company. Congrats, seriously. But you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Now, before you start rolling your eyes, waving me off, and calling me “grandpa” behind my back — give me five minutes. Listen. Really listen. Because I’m about to share the things I wish I knew back then.
No regrets
Thankfully, I don’t carry regrets. (Thank goodness.) But that doesn’t mean I haven’t faced hardship. And that’s an important distinction.
You’ll go through some brutal times. You’ve already been through a few, but those were appetizers. The storms ahead will test your mind and your heart in ways you can’t yet imagine. You will make mistakes.
And like someone wiser than both of us once said:
“These hardships are a masterclass you’d never ask for, and one you couldn’t pay for if you tried.”
The harder it feels, the bigger the lesson. If — and it’s a big if — you endure the storm and rebuild afterwards, you’ll come out stronger. Scarred, yes, but better.
I know, I know. You’ve done this before. But trust me: bigger storms are coming.
Get ready.
Be yourself
That stubborn, unshakable instinct you have to be unapologetically yourself? Yeah. You’re going to need it.
Right now, your internal confidence doesn’t match your external competence. A shaky center inside a shiny shell. Seven years from now, the core will still shake, but a little less.
The thing that carries you forward isn’t just skill. It’s the work you do inward.
So, Bruce. Yes, that Bruce. Star of “Enter the Dragon.” Mr. “Be Water” himself. I know you study him in secret. Don’t stop. Keep going. Eventually you’ll talk about him out loud. Openly.
Strive to honestly express yourself and to always be yourself. That honesty won’t just help you get better; it’ll strip away the weight of being “not good enough” — a burden you don’t need to carry. Right now there are bags strapped to your back. Heavy ones. No one else can see them, no one else can feel them — except you (and me). Let them go.
XFN
Sometime in the future, the term “cross-functional” becomes more of a thing—typically shortened to XFN.
Kinda like how the phrase “Let’s Gooo!” will blow up. It’ll be used exactly like the Korean gaja (가자)!
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P.S. Can you believe K-Pop goes fully mainstream? They even make a movie about it. It’s great! Sorry—back to the serious stuff in my spooky “ghost of Christmas future” voice.
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You’re only starting to see that the job is much (much) more than the code you write or the pixels you push. Yes yes, craftsmanship this, sweat-the-details that, blah blah blah. And yes, the library you invented is really nice. Cool beans.
That stuff you already know how to do—and you’ll keep getting better at it, just like you have all these years. The new challenge? Working with people. Not just engineers. Not just designers. Everyone. From customer support to the C-suite.
The quality of your code will matter less. How you make others feel along the way will matter way, way more.
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Sidenote: Don’t be sloppy about your code. I’m just saying you don’t have to be nitpicky about every last character. I’m not allowed to say too much… but let’s just say computers will magically handle a lot of that for you. You’ll see.
Okay! Back to it.
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You’ve already had a Costco-sized sample of this. Good. Later, you’ll be pushing a full cart—the kind only Kirkland Signature can deliver.
You’ll realize people are generally bad at organizing. At collaborating. At talking to each other. The more people there are, the messier and harder it gets.
Get really, really good at this. Don’t just lean in—leap.
This is where you’ll do the most damage in the best way. And you’ll do it in ways that are… strange. Unorthodox. Outside the box and beyond the playbook. It’ll feel wrong. People will doubt you. A lot.
Here’s the thing: if everyone knew exactly what to do, these problems wouldn’t exist—they’d be solved already. Based on that logic, if whatever you end up doing works, then who’s to say it wasn’t exactly the right thing to do? (Exactly.)
Get good at the thing others are bad at. Get good at the craft of collaboration and communication. Sweat those details—and show others how to do it.
Business
You’re going to hate me for this one.
You need to understand the business. All those all-hands slides with ARR, MRR, projections, metrics — pay attention.
Learn the lingo. Don’t use it though. Understand it. Translate it. Plain language will become your superpower.
Because when you can connect your oddball scrappy prototype to what the business actually needs, it hits harder than any polished 5-page spec. Your stuff cuts to the heart of the problem, zero energy wasted on decoration. Stakeholders and founders will get it. They will get you.
And to put on a suit and tie for sec… That’s ROI. Real ROI. Not cosplay-corporate ROI.
You will always have fewer resources than you want. Always. Your job is to figure it out. To make it work anyway.
No blaming. No “this or that.” No retro will save you.
Just figure it out. Do the thing. However you can.
Write it down
Hate to break it to you. At some point, something’s going to happen. Your memory will get messed up. And when it does, you’ll be forced to build a new muscle: writing things down. Everything. More than you ever imagined. Yes, even dates on pens. Pens!
You’ll do it at first because you have to — otherwise you’ll forget. But what starts as a survival tactic will turn into one of your greatest superpowers. You’ll become known for it. (Or at least… I think you will. Still feeling that part out.)
And I don’t just mean journaling (though you’ll do that too). I mean work stuff. Daily checklists of what to do. Micro-details of what you tried, what broke, what worked. You know that Jira thing engineers love to hate but still cling to? Same story in 2025. Believe it or not, your scribbled hand-written checklists will end up more reliable than an entire “well-groomed” Jira board.
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Sidenote: In about a year, Adam Savage (yes, Mythbuster's Adam), will release a book called "Every Tool's a Hammer". It'll change your world. Read it. Or rather, listen to it on Audible. I know you don't read. Future you doesn't really read either. And it's fine!
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Writing gives you the 10K-foot view. The 100x zoom. Everything in between. It’s the connective tissue that helps you track the state of the plane while you and your team are still building it mid-flight.
Don’t just write things digitally, but physically too. Especially physically.
At first, it’ll feel annoyingly slow. You can type way faster than you can write. Neater too. But that’s the point. The world slows down when you put ink to paper — just enough to start making sense of the mess in front of you. And you’ll remember more. Which, over and over again, will save you. And that messy handwriting? That’s intentional too. It’s you putting in the micro reps to help overcome perfectionism. To focus on the important thing and to keep on moving.
Time and time again.
When in doubt, write it out.
Wrap
Crap, time’s up. Gotta go.
Just remember: try your best. Help others do the same. Stay humble.
Okay byeeee!!!
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P.S. One last thing before I vanish into the timestream… Buy Tesla stock. Yeah yeah, I know, it’s a US Stock and you’re in Canada. Logistics and what not. Figure it out!