Don't play your strengths.
The truth no one tells engineers.
Double down on your strengths. That’s what they tell us. Stick to what you’re good at. Play it safe. And it makes sense…
But what if that’s the reason we’re stuck? What if our comfort zone is our glass ceiling?
The Cut That Changed Everything
A teenage boy stood in front of the gym bulletin board, scanning names. His heart pounded. His name wasn’t there. Cut from the varsity team.
Michael Jordan went home and cried. He could’ve accepted it. Instead, he made a choice: no more excuses. No more hiding behind what he was good at. He attacked his weaknesses.
Every morning before school, he trained. Every night, he pushed harder. He wasn’t a natural leader - so he learned. He wasn’t the best shooter - so he worked.
The greatest basketball player of all time wasn’t always great. He built his greatness in the shadows of his failures.
The Science of Struggle
Want to grow? Stop polishing what’s easy. A Journal of Applied Psychology study found that those who attacked their weaknesses head-on improved 30% more than those who stayed in their comfort zone.
The brain rewires itself under stress. Neuroplasticity thrives when you push past limits.
Weakness isn’t a wall - it’s an entry point.
The Engineer’s Dilemma
Are you the front-end dev who avoids back-end logic?
The senior engineer who sidesteps architecture decisions?
The tech lead who dodges hard conversations?
We write clean code but struggle to explain ideas. We build great UIs but shy away from systems thinking. We ship fast but avoid leadership.
The obstacle in your way is the path forward. Stop hiding. Face the thing you fear.
Turn your weakness into your weapon.