I’ve been thinking a lot about what “experience” really means in our industry. We like to talk in years - 15 years in data engineering, 10 years with Kafka, 5 years leading teams. But time served doesn’t tell the whole story.
I’ve met engineers with 20 years on their resume, but when you dig deeper, it’s really one year of experience repeated 20 times. They’ve been busy - shipping features, fixing bugs, moving from one sprint to the next. But they haven’t stopped to reflect. They haven’t updated how they think, how they work, or how they lead. Just motion. No change.
Real experience isn’t just about doing the job. It’s about closing the loop. It’s about asking questions after the fact: What did I learn? What broke? What should I do differently next time? Experience isn’t passive. It requires deliberate attention.
That’s what separates someone who’s growing from someone who’s just aging in place.
If you’re feeling stuck, you don’t need another course or another year at the same job. You need to start asking different questions. You need to make reflection a habit — not once a year in a performance review, but weekly, or even daily.
So here’s something simple to try: Before the week ends, write down one thing you learned in the past six months. Then write one thing you’d like to stop doing. That’s it.
You don’t need 20 years to be exceptional. You need 1 year — improved 20 times.
here is a template for you to reflect weekly:
Reflection Template — For Individuals
Frequency: Weekly or after major work milestones
Time needed: 10–15 minutes
Format: Private notes or journal
1. What did I work on this week?
List 2–3 things. Keep it simple.
2. What went well?
Highlight wins - not just outcomes, but process improvements.
3. What broke or felt hard?
Be honest. No judgment. OK to work with mentors to get another perspective.
4. What would I do differently next time?
One habit, decision, or mindset shift.
5. What’s one thing I want to stop or improve next week?
Make it specific. Make it doable.
Here is another one for Teams work, this is best done together in a teams setting after reviewing some measured results, think KPI.
Reflection Template — For Teams
Frequency: End of sprint / major delivery / Project sersious roadblock
Time needed: 20–30 minutes
Format: Team doc or meeting (async or live)
1. What did we ship?
Clear list of outcomes.
2. What worked well in our process?
Focus on communication, decision-making, tools.
3. Where did we get stuck?
Call out blockers — tech or people.
4. What surprised us?
Good or bad. Capture learnings.
5. What will we try differently next time?
One change we agree to test. Assign owners for every change and follow through in the next discussion on this project.
Sum it up
Experience isn’t just about how long you’ve been in the field. It’s about how often you stop to think, adjust, and grow. Whether you’re leading a team or writing your own code, reflection is what turns repetition into progress.
Start small. Ask better questions. Share what you’ve learned.
And if this post sparked something - write it on a sticky note:
One year 20 times or 20 years of experience. Make it part of your loop.
Thanks for reading.
- Adi
Adi, THANK YOU, for this article!
There is no transformation w/o reflecting on the past, learning the lessons, building new habits, and taking in the cumulative effects.
I keep drawing parallels between our professional and personal lives and how intertwined they are (I call it double helix). Life is not a highly curated dataset, but the signal is there for us to find.