Hey everyone. Just an update on the Salesforce Certification. I am planning on releasing articles about it after getting the certification, so that I don't have to worry about scheduling two post in one week. Hope this makes sense!
Over the weekend, I have this thought about what I have notice in the last 6 years of being a developer and the post I made weeks back:
The main thing I notice is that a lot of people are saying:
It's hard to finish a project because of I am tired every time I work on it...
or
It's demotivating to keep working on this...
Something similar above in a sense, and talking about how it is hard to get into this market in tech.
To be fair, it IS hard. As a matter of fact, anything really in life is difficult in some spectrum. It's only a matter of if you are willing to do it.
Easy said than done right? (Even for me!)
Sometimes, we have a hard time being consistent because we don't see the reward right away or that we don't see the worth of doing something. For example, if we want to get good at LeetCode, it would make sense to so some problems consistently to get good at it.
However, the more you do it, the common thought you may have along the way is "What's the point? I am training for nothing at the moment".
I have this thought every time when I am practicing for interviews. Although back then I didn't have any interviews line up, I thought about being proactive and start practicing Interviews to improve my speech overtime. That way, when the time comes, I would be ready.
However, during the process, I have thoughts about not doing it because there is no reward to it since I don't get it immediately after practicing.
Speaking of, it reminds me of this specific scene from Tales of the Jedi:
The idea is that Anakin trains Ahsoka though Clone Troopers instead of what everyone else trains on, which is droids. The main purpose of the scene is to not only escalate the difficulty drastically, but to also prepare for the worse and expand on what we can do to improve and stand out from the crowd.
If you were studying CS or similar during your college years, you will hear this formula every time:
Undergrad: we study CS --> Junior year: we study LeetCode and Interviews and get an internship ---> Senior year: We get a Full time Offer.
Let me tell you something.
Why?
Not only everyone is following this though, but that creates competition and there is no diversity in that since recruiters have to deal with a candidate that has similar skills that they reviewed 100 times. Just because one person got into Google, does not mean you can too. Sure, there are people who can do that, but that's rare if you think about it and it's something I hope I can tell myself back then.
Going back to the scene. Ahsoka talks about how this is difficult because how Clones are better than the droids. Anakin taught her about being able to protect herself in a scenario no one saw it.
Guess what? She survived Order 66 because of this unique training.
What's the Point?
Think of it this way, we are following what everyone is doing. Maybe instead of following the formula verbatim, we make it unique to ourselves.
Will that be difficult? Of course it is.
I want you to listen to this scene in Loki about Burden Versus Glory:
The one that stood to me was "most purpose...is more burden than glory...you never want to be the guy to avoid it because you can't live with the burden".
What does this mean as a developer?
Sometimes the things that we want, we have to sacrifice a lot of things in life in order to achieve what we want. Maybe you are very social and go to parties a lot. Instead of that, maybe cut down a LOT of that time into investing in practicing programming skills and building your portfolio.
Sure, you may not see the result immediately, but you have to push yourself and have a good mindset to succeed.
What should I do?
Every week, @jess releases a thread on dev.to "What is your win this week" series. I encourage everyone to comment on the accomplishment that you made (EVEN IF IT IS VERY SMALL like going outside for example).
Why?
The reason is it allows us to reinforce positive thinking instead of thinking negatively. Otherwise, we would not be going anywhere. Again, it will not be immediate, but overtime you will see the result in a gradual way. Thus, being able to be more motivated on the things you want to accomplish.
Like Mobius said: "You gotta keep the big picture in mind...the hard thing to do, was the thing that needs to be done."
Of course, in this scene it is extreme because the TVA prune timelines in order to enforce a singular timeline. Remember, we are not following the quote verbatim, we are getting ideas from it that will help us.
For this case, if we want to be good at LeetCode, we want to keep consistent on practicing. Meaning, sometimes you will have to sacrifice something in life in order to keep that consistency going.
You may be wondering: What if it leads to nothing after all?
Then look back, at LEAST you have shown through your profile that you are studying hard at Leetcode and that you know the fundamentals. It's better than asking yourself that question when you have NOTHING on Leetcode.
Progress is better than none. Nothing in tech is easy and there is no comfort when we try to achieve what we want. Maybe you want to be in Google or that you want to be a Professor. Remember, there is more Burden than Glory. It's only a matter of having to choose your Burden to reach your Glory.
Speaking of Marvel, the Avengers: Doomsday Trailer came out of this time of writing this post lol
