In the past couple of weeks I’ve come to some important realizations which has helped my focus and tenacity in pursuing my software development goals. In summary, this realization is: staying true to your vision.

In the previous months, since I took up the learning of software development, I was faced with various forms of pressures: There was the pressure of proving myself as a result of the time I started to learn and the environment I'm in. There was also the pressure of deciding the track to proceed with amidst the numerous suggestions and information available. I became focused on jumping into the system through the fastest way possible while disregarding the vision/interest that originally set me on this course. Honestly, the experience wasn’t pretty. I was very dissatisfied, without even realizing it at the time. I was going around in circles or perhaps going around in courses. I would start learning a tool and even after doing a bit of work with it, I would be dissatisfied with my progress, my zeal was undulating. There was incomplete learning and I was easily swayed. All these happened because I was doing things that were contrary to what I truly wanted.

Here’s an illustration. When I started to program, I knew exactly that I wanted to learn back end but for fear of a slow place, lengthier execution period, I diverted into learning something else. There’s actually an order: relevance before speed. The code must first solve the problem before you modify for speed. The track you are taking must first be relevant to your vision and then you modify for speed. It’s a waste of time trying to meander when there's a straight pathway. I’d like to say that, whatever it is that you want to do in tech go for it straightaway, don’t settle for what you aren’t exactly interested in for the fear of meeting too much difficulty or not meeting some kind of external expectations.

If perhaps you are in a situation or an environment in which there is a pressure on you to prove yourself. do not let this pressure lead to conformity to a process that is less than anything you actually desire for yourself. Pressure is good, it allows for the formation of beautiful shapes but its important to ensure that there's no shift in the original vision because that ultimately leads to uncertainty, loops and regrets. This is not good for anyone’s mental health. Unless you see a clear cut pathway to your vision and end goal, do not take the track. There’s pressure, it's fine. There's information, it's relevant. But we have to be thoughtful. We aren’t zombies after all.

I have learnt this now. It took me doing what I needed to do to achieve my goals, staying true to my vision to understand this. It took me regarding the pressure but controlling its influence on me to actually begin to have a sense of direction. I hope this helps you too.