I think reaching peak optimization as an engineer is a mix of:
- Knowing or having control of the tools you use
- Knowing what problems are most important to revenue and which are the greatest risk
- Knowing the language well enough to plan ahead without much labor
When a company I worked at mandated an IDE it took me a while to be productive beyond typing speed. When I discovered my company had support for generators, I was no longer spending forever on boilerplate REST code. When I know my test harnesses well it's easier for me to prove functionality in a smaller feedback loop.
- Knowing or having control of the tools you use
- Knowing what problems are most important to revenue and which are the greatest risk
- Knowing the language well enough to plan ahead without much labor
When a company I worked at mandated an IDE it took me a while to be productive beyond typing speed. When I discovered my company had support for generators, I was no longer spending forever on boilerplate REST code. When I know my test harnesses well it's easier for me to prove functionality in a smaller feedback loop.