Everyone understands financial compounding. Far fewer apply the same lens to ability. Each project you finish makes the next one faster, because the lessons carry forward.
For a builder early in their career, the compounding of skill dwarfs the compounding of any salary. A few intense years of shipping can put someone a decade ahead.
The returns are invisible until suddenly they are not.
Stacking Reps
The way to compound skill is the boring way: finish things, reflect on what broke, start the next one sooner.
Builders who ship constantly are quietly running a compounding machine.