Is there a shortcut to excellence?
It
started happening while I was still at college. We students have
informally divided into two groups, us that were
constantly digging for more knowledge and them that
were telling us that we will just be stupid programmers. We wanted to
be great at software development, but they said that we will be zombies
staring at out monitors for the rest of our lives. They had different
future in mind for them, where they would be very smart without any
effort, work little and be very good paid for that. My favorite quote
from them was "I won't be a programmer, I will be a consultant
to other programmers" ... straight from collage. Imagine that!
Or "I will stay at the collage and teach others on
the advanced software development techniques"... techniques they have
never experienced.

Think of
some person you admire for what they have achieved in their
profession. Do you think they earned your respect by being talented or
with their passion and hard work? Do you think they were stupid to push
so hard?
Albert Einstein was committed to his work but I never heard
anybody says that he was staring at formulas for the whole day. Nobody
complained that he was always lost in his taught or that his clothes
were always wrinkled. And what about Jimmy Hendrix, when
you think of him, do you think he was a freak locked up in a room all
day long with his guitar? What about Michael Jordan,
can you even imagine his commitment to basketball? Do you know he was
rated as untalented player when he was in high school?
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