Learn the command line

Before I was a founder, the command line intimidated the heck out of me. It was just an empty black window into the void, an impatient blinking cursor, and no buttons to tell me what was allowed or what I could royally muck up. So I kept a sticky note on my screen with the handful of commands I’d regularly use (ls, cd, git status, git pull, git push) and I used them over and over until I didn’t need the note.

That’s still my advice to anyone. Make your own sticky note and just use the scary black box every day. I started by just creating folders and moving files around, then slowly got more comfortable with git and shipping code.

For my peers in people roles like talent or sales, I know the terminal’s typeface can be scary, but I swear it’s worth the effort to learn. Once you get used to it, typing a command feels more like a natural collaboration with a very literal assistant. As a bonus, you’ll start to see the steps and wiring behind most web apps, making your computer feel much less mysterious and more like a powerful workshop.

I used to sit on a graveyard of ideas, but now I have no good excuse to let them wither. In one terminal window, I’m making a tool to share 360 video with a friend; in another, I’m tweaking the design of a video game I’m making for fun; and in a third, I’m writing and editing these thoughts to send to my blog and post on LinkedIn.

AI speeds me up, but it also made building small things fun again.

I still forget terminal commands all the time. Now I don’t have to stop and dig for them. I ask, I get the command, I learn it, I move on. The sticky note grew up.

You don’t need to be an engineer. You need a terminal, a sticky note, and one small thing you want to ship.