Good article. When I get the idea for "the next big thing" I always try to find a new technology (the last project was ROR, before it was Node.js). So even if it fails (which it usually does) I learn something from it. Thereby the efford isn't lost.
"As programmers, I think we're sometimes too eager to 'get our hands dirty'. Getting experience with a particular project is valuable, but it's akin to heading into the woods with no idea where the trail is. If you're experienced with the tools and workflow of the team you're joining, you may be able to spot the trail easily. If you're inexperienced, your eagerness to get started might have you wandering off and getting lost."<p>One thing that I'm really thankful for at my current job is that the developers also handle support tickets and when I first started I was assigned the point on the help desk. I knew that I would be doing some support going into the job and wasn't too thrilled about it, but from doing the support I learned so much about the product and why things are the way they are in the code. I feel that I learned all of this not only faster than if I was to just look at the code myself, but it was also easier. On top of that, I was able to find out what kinds of problems our customers were having which could lead feature development.
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few." This quote is so important. It really captures the careful balance.