a 7:42 pm thinkpiece - Evergrowing

personal // thinkpiece / Aug 7, 2026

Working in a startup that's constantly under high stakes/pressure has taught me to really realize what it means to grow. Every single day we are fighting for one more day of runway, a little bit more time to close a deal, or shipping out features as fast as possible to satisfy an on-the-fence customer. In the middle of it all, I think anyone in that circumstance can forgot to just stop and smell the roses; but given circumstance no one really has the bandwidth to do so. In my opinion, growing a startup yourself (as a founder, engineer, etc) implicitly grows you as a person as well. You learn things everyday about yourselves that you would have never learned in a much slower environment, you test the limits of your patience and ability, and you yourself learn something new everyday. I think that's the undersold part of startups: not the glamorous fundraising, not the "sleepless nights of coding," not the titles, but instead how much you grow as a person. People just don't really have the time to realize it. Working at a startup means fast iteration is everything. I think it's better to be able to show off a product and iterate on it, then spend weeks planning it out, because by then, your customer is bored and gone. While this does expense you a 110% understanding of the code you're shipping, iterating fast under high standards and high pressure leads you to work smarter. I recently noticed I started to subconsciously make trade-off decisions on a whim, because I've become so familiarized with the industry that I work in, that I can understand in a thought whether or not we need a certain feature implemented or not. Without me consciously zooming out and noticing my growth in this area, I would have never realized I've come to make these decisions that quickly, all because I needed to adapt to the environment I was working in. In other situations, when meticulously developing something, I tend to always overthink sacrifice plays: "Oh if I introduce this framework A, framework B wouldn't really make sense, but I like framework B here because...." Yet, because I've become so familiarized with the product, the industry, and the objectives of the company, it's no longer a deliberation meeting with my own thoughts in order to decide what's best for this system. Another thing I've felt like I've grown in is my humility. I think the phrase "fake it 'till you make it" when it comes to CS is an excellent one. It teaches people to never undercut their own skills, and simply act as the best and eventually you will become the best; a little delusional, but we need delusion, I think. Yet, working around some of the smartest people I'll ever meet has taught me that, there's always a bigger fish than you. Just when you think you're iterating fast or pumping out intuitive yet functional features, your coworker doubled your productivity within the same day. Now, I don't say this to beat myself up, or discourage anyone reading this, but I think it's a great signal to pick up while working at a startup. I've learned so much from the founding engineers at Hemut, yet I definitely wouldn't have if I continued to think that "my way" was the best way, simply because I need to fake it until I make it. Instead, being surrounded by these people have taught me that if you truly want to build the best product possible, you need to learn from the best people possible. This extends past the company. The practices, skills, and even habits of these engineers are things I will for sure pick up in my daily life as a developer, or even as a student. For anyone that feels like life is succeeding you at a jogging pace while you want to stroll, I recommend taking time to sit back and think about how far you've come from when you used to walk right beside life at your own pace. Life is evergrowing, and as long as you commit to growing alongside it, you will be too.