Bill Joy and the 10,000 Hour Rule. Could That Be You Too?

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For the past couple of weeks, I have been a reading a book called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. In the book, Gladwell discusses how one's success could be measured by their birthdate, their genes, their birthplace etc. In the chapter called The 10,000 Hour Rule, Gladwell explains that in order for one to be excellent at what they do, it requires 10,000 hours of practice. He furthers his thesis by bringing in a gentleman by the name of William Nelson Joy better known as Bill Joy.

So why am I talking about Bill Joy today? Well the story goes like this. Joy, being a 16 year old from Detroit, Michigan decided to further his studies at the University of Michigan in 1971. According to Gladwell, the school had an advanced state of the art, single computer that stood tall in a room that used punch cards for programming (Think the 1970s). Being an excellent mathematician, it wasn't until he went to the school and saw the giant computer that he decided he going to study Computer Science become a computer programmer.

After getting a job with his professor at the time, Bill spent numerous hours programming. When asked how long did it take for him to be good at programming, his response was 10,000 hours. He calculated the times he spent in that room on that big computer and the times he spent on the terminal he had at home while attending Berkley for his masters. There were days he stayed up until 3 o'clock in the morning or falling asleep at his keyboard.

So again you ask, what's so special about Bill Joy? Bill Joy is credited with rewriting UNIX, cofounding Sun Microsystems, Inc., best known for the Java language and helping develop the "software that allows you to access the Internet" (Gladwell, 36). Cool huh? It took him 10,000 hours to become proficient in programming to lead him into a prosperous, yet tedious career.

Today, President Obama presented his "controversial speech" to students across America. In the speech, he encouraged students to study, do well and practice so they can be like the founders of Google, Twitter etc. Bill Joy is a perfect example. His dedication to studying and practice helped him to get to what he is today; think Bill Gates, sorta.

I take this and ask myself, "What must I do to be like Bill Joy?" The answer is simple. Strive for those 10,000 hours. Are you now striving for those 10,000 hours? I would love to hear from you.

1. Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers. New York: Little,Brown, 2008.