 Hello, everybody. Hey. My name is Alyssa and I'm from Orlando. I am a web developer there, but it's been really fun getting to learn a lot about DevOps and meet so many of you cool peeps. And, oh, this is the countdown. Oh, cool. That's awesome. I thought there was just like, you know, silent 10 seconds. So really any excuse to break out the cat jacket, though. I love visiting your chilly weather here. So, all right. So innovating is not about technology, but psychology. It's my quick talk today. And as I said, I am a front end dash full stacky web dev from Orlando, Florida, and a Google developer expert. So I have a few ideas I want to share with you today. One of those starts with this quote from Linda Holmes. It is the recognition that well read is not a destination. There's nowhere to get to. And if there was somewhere to get to, you would need a thousand years to even think about getting there. Why do we try so hard? Why do we do what we do? Why are we here right now paying to listen to people talk? Maybe it's because we're lifelong learners. Maybe it's because we just want to commune with other devs and nerd out. Or maybe it's because innovating is not just about the technology that we use, but about psychology and the why behind it. I love the 15 second rule. At this point, I'd be like clicker. So the first time I gave this talk, I asked the audience to come up to me afterwards and give me some things that I had missed. Because I went over some things that I personally struggled with as a developer in the tech industry. And so I said, what do you guys struggle with? Come and tell me. And something that I heard from a lot of people. It really shocked me over and over again was fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of learning something new, fear of trying something and failing, fear of looking dumb in front of other developers. I don't know about you guys, but when somebody looks over my shoulder, all of a sudden the code just is like, whoa, like, but I, I'm in brave adventure. So at the time when people came up to me and told me that fear is something they struggle with, it wasn't something I recognized. It wasn't something I had ever dealt with before. So if you're in the audience going, it's not really me. I'm not really there right now. It's important to remember that there are people, friends, coworkers, people around you that do struggle with this. So when they come to you asking for help, it's really great to be patient and understanding and realize it's not as easy for some to come up and ask for help as it is for others. So as I said, I had at the time not experienced fear. A few months ago, however, I woke up to this overwhelming and horrifying feeling of nausea and fear and this repeating voice in my head saying, I can't do this. What am I doing? I just accepted a developer's job and I'm like supposed to like actually push stuff into production. Like why did they give me access to that server? So I'm going to tell you what I told myself then. It's okay to be afraid, but we cannot let it crush us. And then you turn to your wieners. Now I use wieners and winners as synonyms, but it's really important to be surrounded by people in your life. They can speak truth into you. They can tell you the hard things that are sometimes not easy to hear, but they're telling you out of love and a desire for you to grow. We cannot be great alone. It is the fastest way to get chewed up and spit out by this industry. Innovating is not about technology, but psychology. I can't tell you the number of times I've been told by someone, man, you're so passionate. If I could just get like an ounce of that a day. And it's great. I'm not, I'm not gonna lie. Like always being excited to learn, being like, oh, what are you doing? You're SSHing? What is SSH? Tell me everything. It's great. It's a great place to be. But I acknowledge that not all developers are there and too many of my dear friends are in this sitting, waiting and wishing club. Right? So if you're there, I have three steps that will help you out. The first is to ask why. Asking why is the most important question that we can be asking. It shows that not only do you understand what you're doing, but you're ready for more. If you're not asking why during development, why are we doing it that way? Why is that method named that? If you're not asking why, I have to wonder, are you actually learning, growing, being challenged? The second thing is to teach. Teach others, but mainly teach yourself. You can't be spoon fed. You can't wait around for information. You have to be a self taught person. The last thing for sitting and waiting and wishing is to want more. I've got a good job, great benefits, got friends, I'm comfortable. Sure. I know what's expected of me, right? But are you growing? Are you challenged? Are you recognized for not what you do right now at the company, but for your potential one day? Do you even realize what you're worth, right? Want more out of your career now, out of yourself, out of your life, because you guys are worth it. Now, back to Linda Holmes. Her article was entitled, The Sad Beautiful Fact that you will never be able to do it all. It is sad and beautiful, but it's also freeing. Having this attitude will allow you to embrace the things that you really love in life and to be great at them. It will put you over others who try to do it all. You guys are all beautiful and crazy, and you have this inner dinosaur inside of you. Let it out, and I know you'll do great things. Thank you so much.