A big thing when conducting interviews with my company is the question of advice or suggestions that these rising stars could give fellow developers or the youth that aspires to one day pursuit the career path that they're in. Usually the answers are the same "just stay consistent" or "listen to your dreams" this particular session of interviews led for interesting variations.
Here are the ones that stuck out:
"There are so many free resources available, one only needs to dive in."
"Get in there and do it everyday, they're not much else to it."
"Advice is truly overrated! Do your thing!"
The last one stuck out to me the most. That particular developer had traveled all the way from the Netherlands just to be here in California for the event. Here is his story: he was one of the winners of the Game Slam, where he had to create a video game with his partner in under 48hrs. He was no older than I was and the story alone sounded almost impossible.
It got me thinking, it's so easy to fall for articles online or advice by X title. Blogs are so readily available these days that anyone can easily give the advice that they want. Another thing that got me thinking was how easy it was to tell people to follow steps A through C to get what they want (job, relationship, etc.), and it probably lead them to success most of the time. But what about the individuals that don't fall in that category? What about the ones that could never quite fit in? To say that it would work for everyone or that they have to follow every word of advice would take away from the diversity and interesting stories that we have out there. Think about it: Imagine a world where Disney conformed, Einstein gave up when they told him to, and no one ever quarreled? What a sad boring history this planet would have!
When I worked as a ghostwriter I remember my boss; a fat balding man saying that I would take over the articles that he had to write. I was shocked to find that I was writing articles on swimsuit advice, makeup, couture accessories for major named clients. I was biographies for doctors, lawyers, and scientist. It made me realize, not everything written online was for the better of the person. Rather, it was written to gain traffic and benefit the client. Not all of it had to be true. The thought of this sickened me, I lost my job because I couldn't sleep at night. I'm glad that I did.
What I'm trying to get at is this: Anyone that's out there, don't listen to everything you read and don't let every word of advice get to you. "Do YOUR thing!" YOU are what you've made yourself, be proud of that and humble yourself with that inner voice of peace that is individual to you. I know that I may sound a bit cheesy, but this weekend has shown me this more than anything. To be in the presence of hundreds of individuals chasing there dreams is so inspiring. It would be selfish not to share this experience.
After the interview I asked them why on earth they chose to travel this far. He replied at me like I was mad by saying if this is where it is, then he had to simply follow it. He mentioned that his life would go stale if he didn't.
I hope for this kind of courage, listening to my heart hasn't led me astray so far. I hope that his story will be as inspiring to others as it was to me.
-Stef
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