The leap of faith

This first blog post is not necessarily related to programming, it’s more my perspective on life, and opportunity in general. My first job was a paper route when I was 8 years old, I didn't want a paper route, my older brother did, but his route was huge and took him hours. Luckily I was there to pick up half, don't misunderstand, this was not two brothers going out together, he took one side of the street I took the other, or even what you see in movies where a kid is on his bike throwing papers at houses. This was 8 year old me, no parents, alone, waking up with the sun, to deliver newspapers in upstate New York by myself. Rain, shine, or snow and there was a LOT of snow, as for the bike I was so small and there were so many papers to deliver that I had to carry two news paper sacks and couldn't balance on my bike. Since then, there hasn't been much time when I didn't have a job, and over the years I've had many, some good, many bad. Most of the bad ones I didn't realize were bad until years later.

Something I've noticed in myself and in others is a fear of opportunity. You might not hate your job, you might love the people you work with, your job is one any person would be lucky to have but it isn't your dream. It might be 90% your dream, or it might give you everything you need but lacks one thing you desire. You cannot be afraid to take that leap of faith, if you settle for "good enough" you will only ever get good enough, if you stay with something that is 90% your dream, cannot reach the remaining 10%.

Don't get me wrong it might turn out bad, you might find a new opportunity that sounds like it’s the one that will get you to your dream, or closer than you were, but it’s actually worse. That is a risk you take, but if you found that job, you can find another, and there is no reward without risk. A bad choice is not the end, it’s a minor setback, and above all a learning experience. Going into the next opportunity you will know a red flag to watch out for (which you should be accumulating over your career), or better questions to ask, but if you don't take the leap of faith you'll never know. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, and you lose out on every opportunity you let pass by because of fear. Don't sell yourself short, you deserve 100%, seize the opportunity and step outside of your comfort zone, don't be afraid to leap.