I coulda had a v8...!

Ever have an epiphany on steriods? A genuine V8 forehead slapper. What David Allen refered to as "BFO* Moments".

(*Blinding Flash of the Obvious)

The meteor struck earlier today.

It was an otherwise unremarkable day. I'm typing along, working through a bunch of c# tutorials. They're pretty basic (which the author stated), but I figured that it wouldn't hurt me to review the basics, and I'd still learn a bit along the way. (if nothing else, the "duh!" IDE tricks were worth it) So here I am, listening half way to this guy's OO overview, and I decide to change tracks.

I begin thumbing through Head First Design Patterns, and start to review their first example. (the Duck one) And I start to get excited. "hey!", I think to myself, "I think I actually sorta understand this!"

Pause the dude in the video.

Whip up a new project.

Start typing. Now, the examples in the book are java, but they're close enough to C# that I get the idea.

(work with me, I'm slow getting to the point. But I'll get there. I promise.)

Type. Recompile. Wtf? Interface? Hmm... Google "c# interface". Ah. Crud. Still no dice.

In the end it didn't work. "Crap!" says I.

And then the BFO hits.

About a year ago, I started taking a martial art.

(we're almost to that point I was talking about...not long now...)

It has been something I've wanted to do since I was young enough to still be awed with really bad martial arts shows.

Now, I'm 32 year and just (ever-so-slightly, mind you) starting to creak. I had no illusions about pulling off the reverse-flying-dragon-pull-a-rabbit-out-of-your-butt-
and-beat-the-guy-to-death kick.

At least not right off.

I walked into the dojo expecting to look silly. Fall down a lot. To be a complete goof.*** I gave myself permission to enjoy the process. Rather then walking out of the dojo every time wondering "when am I gonna get that black belt?!" Which, of course, would do absolutly nothing for my yin, yang, or happy ki.

See what I'm getting at? I knew in one area of my life that expertise would take time. To expect that a few weeks/months of training will equal expertise would be ludicrous in karate. To expect a "tech professional" to learn the ins and outs of a programming language and be super-proficient in a few months is equally ridiculous.

Even the almighty Joel Spolsky points out that his expertise is hard won and the product of years of experience.

This may not be news to you. If so, I bow (in proper style) to you. You have self awareness and wisdom that this grasshopper is but beginning to catch a glipse.

(Maybe that's why it was a bfO...)

***I succeeded wildly. For weeks.