The main idea for this pattern is to help one maintain his level of excitement for the field. The author presents warnings of moments where one’s career can be the culprit of discouragement and discontent. He presents a few ways to remediate the situation some by which one could steer their environment to a better place. He doesn’t stop short of recommending leaving a toxic environment if nothing works. The drastic measure is something I would like to avoid because the reason I return to school was the result of it.
This pattern is linked to a lot of other very good patterns, and I am not surprised so many fit well with it. Nurturing one’s passion is the best way to achieve excellence in any filed. Particularly I feel that “Draw your Own Map” is very descriptive of I what plan for myself. I haven’t read this pattern yet, but I think it will be my next one. This support pattern, as explained within “Nurture your Passion”, states that one should know what it wants and pursue it. I like this idea because it removes the self-pity victim mentality away from the equation. This mentality can induce a state of paralysis that is not healthy and hinder you from accomplishing what you want.
My goal after school is to try to find something I am really excited about and maybe even sacrificing pay or title for it. The field of software technology offers the opportunity for a lifelong learning experience. It is so broad, intersects so many fields and industries that it allows for a vast array of choice in which anyone can find something they are passionate about. It also offers the opportunity to trade your convictions and passions for financial gain and we should be careful about that. Some of the things I hear the author talk about I think relate well to what I hear from the gaming industry where is said that they work long stressful hours, and their pay is not up to par to other types of developers. This is a good cautionary tale because most people probably go into this subfield for passion, but passion can become obsession, and that can be very unhealthy.
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