Iron Man is another superhero who is not naturally “super,” but relies on his brain (and money) to turn him into a fighting machine. While traditional superheroes are still popular, a three-movie franchise and incorporation into the new Avengers series shows that Iron Man is popular enough on his own.
As a superhero with a lot of tools, a lot of technology, and a lot of smarts, there are some pretty clear connections we can draw between Iron Man and developers.
So how developers are like Iron Man?
Well, read on my list of reasons.
Choose Your Bettles
Iron Man chooses his battles wisely. He doesn’t fight every super villain, or wait in dark alleys for small-time crooks, he goes after the specific enemies. Developers also know that no system is going to be perfect, and to focus on “battles” that will help solve the most immediate problems.
Do not Give up
Iron Man doesn’t give up, even when he has the most ridiculous odds stack against him (that just makes the final battle scene even more exciting). Developers are also known to be stubborn and never give up until they have conquered a problem. There is a reason they seem so addicted to caffeinated drinks!
Keep on Improvising
Iron Man is always trying to improve himself (and his suits). Significant parts of the second and third movies, in fact, were set in his workshop as he tinkered with better suits. Developers might regret that there is no “super suit” they can put on that will solve all their server issues while they take a nap – they ARE the suit. They are always learning an discovering new powers of their own.
A Lone Hero
Iron Man can be a loner. He works alone in his shop, with only a robot (with a British accent) as an assistant – and has built some of the coolest technology in the superhero universe. Developers also come up with amazing things on their own through hard work and inventiveness.
A Team Player
Iron Man also knows he needs a team. While this famous loner tries to ignore outside help, he also swallowed his pride and joined the Avengers. No matter how much developers may like working on their own, they also know they have to cooperate with a team to come up with even bigger solutions.
Have Fun
Have Fun. Not once does it appear Iron Man is not enjoying himself – and since his alter ego is billionaire Tony Stark with a multimillion dollar company to run, if he weren’t enjoying himself he could always quit and live an (almost as) exciting life. Developers may or may not have the freedom to quit their job at any time, but I know many who would not quit even if they were millionaires, they love their jobs so much.
I think that many more pages could be written about Iron Man/Tony Stark, but instead, I think we should all go watch the movies again. What other similarities do you see between our favorite “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist”?
Reference: Pinal Dave (https://blog.sqlauthority.com)
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The important mantra – “Keep on improving”!
Developers (and all IT professionals) do have a magic suit that can do the work while the worker naps – automation. Spending time in the workshop tinkering with scripts and monitoring and code to get things done and notify when notifications is necessary without humans always watching is the big thing we can take away from this example. We are superheroes – like Iron Man – when we set things up so that they don’t need us and then tinker with it to make it better and make it work better without us.