Ask HN: Is rapid early growth crucial as an engineer?
Hi all,<p>I&#x27;m a software engineer in my late 20s. I love the security side of computing, so I&#x27;m doing a masters in information security in parallel with working on software in this field. But at the same time, I feel like I&#x27;m not &quot;growing&quot; fast enough, that there&#x27;s so much to know - things that others are already experts in - and it&#x27;s putting a lot of mental pressure on me.<p>I think at least part of it is due to my upbringing, parents pressuring me to &quot;work hard to reap the benefits later on&quot;. That&#x27;s what I don&#x27;t have a good sense for, though: is it worth focusing a lot of my time and energy now on learning and doing side-projects, expanding my knowledge in this field? Or is it better to let things sink in over a longer period of time<p>I&#x27;m aware that this is a fairly personal question in the end, but it&#x27;s difficult to know what to expect or how things might (not) turn out.