Once you have worked out from the earlier mails, the way forward is by constantly trying to improve oneself. It sounds fairly trite and somewhat contrived, made-up. But that is how it is. Unless you spend time setting high benchmarks for yourself, you will always end up giving something less than your best.
Why is 'giving the best' of such important ? A pretty much relevant anecdote (from the life of Jimmy Carter) is "Carter often told of being interviewed by Admiral Rickover. He was asked about his rank in his class at the Naval Academy. Carter said "Sir, I graduated 59th out of a class of 820." Rickover only asked "Did you always do your best?" Carter was forced to admit he had not, and the Admiral asked why. Carter later used this as the theme of his presidential campaign and titled his first book Why Not The Best?" Nobody owes it to you to ensure that your career gets made. In fact, barring you, no one should be bothered much about which direction your career takes. So, simply put, unless you make smart choices which help you to keep working with people smarter than you, you'll not be in a position to keep up a pace of self improvement. Working in an environment with smart people serves as a boost for your own creative thinking. And, if you learn to think things through, you hone your analytical ability. So, where does FOSS fit into all this ? Following up from what I have mentioned before - FOSS projects allow you the opportunity to build up these skills while learning the academic aspects of software engineering. That is, besides building up the ability to work within a virtual environment, communicating with peers and folks with various skill-sets. Stop there for a moment and think about whether such skills will stand you in good stead when you are looking at your career or, participating in a new project as part of your day-job. The opportunities that make you a better developer/programmer/architect are all around you. It is up to you to ensure that you take up the tasks and give it your best shot. Unless you test the limits of your knowledge, you will not be able to correctly assess where you stand. After an assessment comes the task of benchmarking yourself with the best and trying to become a better person. Software Engineering does not limit you to being a developer or a programmer. With shifts in the global economy, a better career prospect is ensured if you keep yourself updated with the over-all 'architecture' as well as roadmap of various technologies you desire to excel in. Thanks for reading all three of the fairly long mails. Have fun, Sankarshan _______________________________________________ Users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.dgplug.org/listinfo.cgi/users-dgplug.org
