having the vague (re-)realization that my programming superpower is basically just being really good at reading docs and, even more importantly, code
like I've answered so many questions online and solved several incidents at work by just finding the exact function or line of code that does the thing and then telling people how it appears to work (or not work, as the case may be)
@joe_no_body This is an under-appreciated skill. Reading code is like readling any language---you get better with practice, and it requires building a mental model to hold enough state to understand what you're looking at.
A lot of academia teaches people how to *write* code and can under-emphasize *reading* it.
@mtomczak 💯💯💯
in general I think programming education really under-emphasizes the importance of reading, interpreting, and modifying existing code. it's basically just assumed that this comes naturally from learning to write code, which is silly, because none of the code you write as a beginner is likely to be anywhere near the complexity of an actual project intended for consumption