If I share MY ideas and resources with others then THEY could surpass ME. Isn’t it better to just do it ALONE ? 🤔

I have been recently asked this question by an engineer

If I share MY ideas and resources with others then THEY could surpass ME. Isn’t it better to just do it ALONE ?

This was a valid question and has a lot of perspectives to it. Let us look at this question in a way that does not reflect as to how one has the moral responsibility to do good to others , how one should be selfless and other mumbo jumbo ✌️ that floats around.

What’s in it for you here ?

Let’s take a pure business approach here and see how sharing your ideas , resources , collective learning , working for and with others will benefit you the most. Yes ! You !

But how …. ? You may ask🤔

Let’s look at this from a utilitarian perspective of an engineer.

This very question comes from a wrong notion that when you don’t share your ideas or that when you hide useful things or resources from your peers and friends, you allow yourself to succeed and that you become more competent and better than them.

First of all , you should decide whether you want to be “an engineer” who is just better than the one sitting next to you

Or

you wanna be a great engineer no matter who’s sitting next to you, No matter the kind of problem thrown at you, no matter the situation and the place you are in, You are ready !

Solutions are meaningless without the Right Problem !

One tremendous advantage for you here is that your peers will learn and ask you questions or suggestions which will improve your understanding of the problem and solution at hand. Engineering is not just reading some stuff and just learning something in detail. It’s an art where you will continuously face a whole lot of issues and problems and have to come up with solutions that would work for you the best.

You will NEVER grow as an engineer if

• You don’t get the opportunity to see new problems and perspectives.
• You don’t get the kind of questions that challenge you and your ideas however small or big they are.
• Sharing and discussing is a great way to get such opportunity many times.

Solutions and answers are meaningless without questions and the right questions could be more important than some of the most important solutions.

So what’s the issue if the guy next to you becomes great ? Do you care more about your greatness or about other’s demise ?

If you care about your greatness, which you should first, you should share. You must care. You have to. There’s no other way around it.

You would help others not because it helps them, but because it helps you. It’s a win win situation for everyone you see ✌️

The issue as to why few people may not be getting this simple logic could be because of various dogma fed by people about what is success and what is defined as greatness. Unfortunately some people (even parents many times) have glorified those who are competent to such an extent that you don’t get satisfied anymore if there comes a solution to a real problem.

You would only get satisfied if you are the one finding the solution. If you are the one who gets patted on the back.

This unfortunately fuels a society where “you doing something” , matters more than “what it is that you are doing”.

We often hear that :

The heart of engineering lies in problem solving.

When the focus is shifted from problem solving to problem solver , where is the question of good engineering anymore ?

Coming back to the question of whether to help others grow with us or not , when you help them grow along with you , when you nurture those who aren’t as fortunate or as lucky as you , you make them empowered and capable enough to compete with you that actually benefits you the most. If you just remain focused on yourself , you are in essence competing with incompetents and feeling satisfied with your success when it’s not even real.

What’s the use if you are competing with “Losers” ? What’s the point of winning among the losers anyway?

So the question is again just this :

Do you wanna be the engineer who’s just better among the losers club you are with or do you wanna be the engineer who’s great no matter who’s with whom.

Do you wish to celebrate reaching the top of the Rock just above the ground being unaware of the whole mountain in front of you?

Or

Do you wanna conquer the mountain without minding a gang trekking along with you ?

You be the judge :)

PS : Any disagreements and differences of opinion ? Looking forward to hearing them out 🙏 😅

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