I Got Into MIT, Refused the Offer, and Still Became a Highly Valued Developer
By: Zachary Minott
Tags: Life Lessons, Programming, Self Improvement, Personal Growth, Software Development

You Are the Only One Responsible for the Ultimate Outcome of Your Career

If you want to be valuable, you have to generate that value yourself. It’s no one else’s responsibility but your very own.

I’m going to explain this concept through three brief personal stories.

Story 1

Maybe I didn’t go to the school with the best engineering program, but I went to a school that was ranked third in the entire country in the sport of water polo. That’s not programming-related, but please bear with me. It’s still relevant.

I essentially received a full-ride scholarship to play there, and guess what? I went to one of the worst high schools in the whole state for this sport. Of the seven divisions, my school was in the bottom tier and didn’t even make it to state championships. This made it literally impossible to get noticed or taken seriously.

Still, I wouldn’t allow my circumstances to stop me.

I worked overtime. I went to multiple practices every single day. I signed up for the best water polo camps. All of this just to get myself seen.

Ultimately, all this extra work got me to the point where I set county records for the most goals two years in a row. I wouldn’t wait for recruiters to just find me either. I was the one who reached out to them, sent them gameplay video, and got them to come to me. Me getting recruited to one of the best water polo programs in the country was simply a result of my own goal-oriented actions.

This was a great lesson for me moving forward. It told me that one has to do what others aren’t willing to do to be able to get where you want to be. It told me that my reality is cultivated through the decisions that I make.

That lesson set the grounds for the future of my programming career and my life.

Story 2

When I came into my Computer Science program, I knew I wanted to be a game developer, but my entire curriculum was based around the Java programming language.

Knowing that I would never have the opportunity to even learn how a video game is built throughout my degree, I took the act of learning how to do it into my own hands. I looked for gaps in my schedule to read about game development, to take online courses, and to build out my own side projects. Ultimately, it landed me the opportunity to work at two augmented reality startups where I eventually fell out of love with that niche craft. Nevertheless, I would have never gotten those experiences if I didn’t rely on educating myself.

I created that value myself. Now, thanks to all those years of exploring an extra realm of development, I’ve grown much more as a developer.

Story 3

At my current company, there was an initial nine-week training program. I was expected to only receive two Salesforce certifications and then they would maybe contract me out to some client I would be able to work with for a couple of months. Instead of limiting myself to those two certifications, I told them that I wanted four certifications. They told me that had never done before and that I wouldn’t be able to do it either.

Needless to say, I set a company record by getting four certifications in those first nine weeks, which led me to receive a company-wide reward and get immediately consulted out to a fast-growing startup consulting agency. I’m currently at this agency, and I’ve proven myself to my CEO so much that we are talking about making me a technical lead and potentially seating me as future CTO of one of his child companies. It’s been less than eight months.

I’ve done this by sharing my personal goals and philosophies with them. I’ve done this by openly sharing what I believe needs to be improved. I’ve done this by constantly updating them about all the progress I’ve made. I’ve done this by delivering on difficult tasks that were beyond my skill levels at my time.

I displayed my ambition. I demonstrated my drive. I showed my commitment. I proved that I was highly competent and worthy of my position. I didn’t just wait around for them to notice my output and my qualities by just showing up — I made them realize those qualities.