On Writing…
I ended up watching a documentary on Alexander Hamilton the other night. It wasn’t intentional, it is what played after Forged in Fire, I think on History channel. Anyway, it kept playing as I was on my computer but I was half listening in the background. There were a few take aways that I think are relevant to my current journey.
The first thing I learned was that Hamilton really became famous for his writing. He was a smart man, but his ability to articulate his thoughts and ideas into writing what what helped him become the success he was. His writing in a newspaper is what got him to the US then his writing during the war caught the attention of Washington, catapulting him to become part of Washington’s inner circle. Had he not be as adept as painting a picture with words, he would not have had the opportunity to shape America.
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Sadly, writing is not one of my stronger skills. I am able to get my point across but I’m not a very descriptive writer. The picture that would be drawn from my words would be a black and white line drawing. I am going to work on my writing skills so that a grand, photo-realistic painting could be created from my words! The way to get better at writing is to write, so that is what I will be doing. It may not all be tech related, but there will be plenty of practice writing in my future.
The second take away is that its okay to lean on people who are in your corner when you need them. Hamilton had Washington, and without that relationship, he wouldn’t have had such influence. With the support of such a well respected person, he was able to make a lot of things happen.
My struggle is to accept help when I need it. Its peculiar, because I highly encourage others to ask for help or support if the need it, yet I am hesitant to do the same. I want to be able to do things by myself, I don’t think there is any harm in wanting to be self-sufficient as long as it isn’t detrimental to the end goal. This is particularly relevant in my journey into the tech world. I have a great group of mentors through #VetsWhoCode that I need to lean on more for help/assistance in jump starting my career in tech. This one isn’t as immediate of a concern, but once I’m confident my skills are enough to be a good job recommendation, I plan to put feelers out there.
So, a few, less-technical skills I plan to work on as inspired by Alexander Hamilton. I’m sure there are others, but they will be left for another post. Now, onto honing JavaScript skills!
