There is something intoxicating about being special. A person defers to you in conversation. The team lifts you up after scoring the winning try. A son hugs his mother, asking her to tell him about dinosaurs.
See what that special is? It involves relationships. Relating to one another. One person, speaking, doing, thinking, with or toward another.
What makes a good developer?
That’s not a question I can answer. That’s up to you. We have to find it out for ourselves.
The question that needs to be answered, is not a singular internal question.
It’s .. larger. Unselfish beyond self.
What is true development? I believe, it’s community. It’s relationships. It’s a team working together.
So what makes a team? Better yet, what _breaks_ a team?
Being special in development means more than being awesome at code. Amazing with structures. Clarity of purpose beyond the ken of normal mankind. These are of themselves wonderful abilities. They make an individual special.
Being special means _more_.
Breaking is far easier than building. Our insecurities, the lies we tell to cover our frailty. They all break. Some things, some words, some deeds more than others. Maybe it’s jealousy. Maybe lust. Maybe a desire to be someone we just can’t quite be. Whatever it be, it be broken. It breaks. Severs.
Being special means building.
What am I talking about? Seriously, what purpose did I have in writing this post?
Not really sure. I guess I’m searching through my thoughts in preparation for the time when I have a team. The things that are going to make a team work. That’s what is going to separate. A single successful development (I’m not there yet) is still single. To progress, a team needs to be formed. To form a team, you need to understand people. To bring them together certain barriers have to be overcome. Insecurities delt with. Or at least addressed. Actually, I’m not talking about just any team. A successful team. A _special_ team.
Being special is important. We can’t be special to everyone. But we can be special to those around us. And they can be special to us. I’m not talking fluff here, that exists, but I’m talking about group dynamics. Teamwork. Relationships.
The night is young, or old.
And there’s another episode of Heroes left to watch.