[m_st]

Thanks for sharing your story.

I‘ve had/have a similar experience. No seniors here to learn from but got it up to top performance with reading (joelonsoftware was a great inspiration back then), investing lots of time (but rarely overtime) and being ambitious.

I believe you also learned that you shouldn‘t be the single point of failure. I‘m still actively working on that. Though it‘s hard to relay to others if they just can‘t get it done or don‘t share your ambitions, vision or views of quality and customer focus. But there‘s always hope.

[seer]

This is what I also think Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince was after.

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up your men to collect wood and give orders and distribute the work,” he said. “Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”

Heard that recently in Julia Galef’s TED talk which I think was awesome.

But I also struggle with that last one myself too. At least now I know inspiration is more about emotions than rational arguments.