A thought on 'The Passionate Programmer'

About 10 years ago, my professional life as a young programmer changed when I read The Pragmatic Programmer. I think I learned more 'real life' lessons for a programmer on that book than I learned in 4 years of college... (ok, maybe an exaggeration, but not that far fetched).

This week, I picked up at work The Passionate Programmer, and even though I haven't really considered myself a full time programmer for quite a few years, this book is speaking to me like the Bible speaks to Christians.

The major problem I am having with myself though is that I am not that young anymore, professionally speaking, I've been in the business of IT for almost 15 years, and as I read this book, I am becoming self-aware that I've been coasting on my professional carrier, that I am 'set on my ways' and not necessarily challenging myself anymore.

The book is telling me that I must grow, mature, develop, and contribute as a professional.

Here's a small snippet from the book that stabs me right where it hurts while I read it:

I remember as a young programmer going to staff meetings, my eyes glazing over as some big-shot leader with whom I would never directly work showed chart after chart of numbers that I believed to be completely irrelevant to me. I just want to go back and finish the application feature I'm working on. I would whine to myself. My teammates sat together, looking like a row of squirming children on a long care ride. None of us understood what was being presented, and none of us cared. We blamed what we felt was a complete waste of time on the incompetent managers who had called the meeting. Page 52.

15 years in, and I am still a child on a long car ride.

/me needs to start working on that.