The Valley
Tags: career, retrospective
Published: 2020-02-22 20:34:37

## The Climb

Imagine you are climbing a hill.

A pretty steep hill this one was.

You look around and you see others trying to climb this hill as well. You help each other out when possible.

You've heard stories about what's on the other side and it seemed like something you could attain with enough dedication. Plus, you find it pretty fun tackling the challenges the climb has brought you.

You look back and noticed how far you've climbed. This motivates you to keep on going and persevere through the journey.

You notice that everyone around you climbs this hill a bit differently.

Some are at the bottom...

- studying the shape, height, and slope of the hill
- analyzing the weather conditions
- collecting proper climbing gear before making the trek

Others have different strategies...

- offering maps to the top of the hill
- creating shortcuts others can traverse
- by giving it their all no matter what

You have your own way and methods of climbing this hill, too, but at the end of the day, you and everyone else are doing their best to reach the top.

## The Top of the Hill

Finally, you've made it to the top.

Your eyes angle up admiring the beautiful skies. A perfect view to watch the sunrise, the sunset, the moon, and the stars.

Most importantly, you look back down towards the bottom of the hill. It did not matter what and who you were then, how and why you ended up there.

All the struggles you've come across climbing this uphill journey was all worth it for this exact moment. To say...

> "I've made it. I've finally made it."

Some of the people you've met along the way are at the top with you. Some of the faces you were hoping to see were nowhere to be found.

In fact, some of them are on their way back down to the bottom. Seems like they can't make this climb after all.

You take a closer look and realize that some are on their way back down to climb a different hill. A hill that entices their passion and compliments their way of climbing.

Maybe they're going to reach the top of that other hill. Maybe they'll find another one that suits them better on the way up. Who knows what their future holds.

But you... **you know that you've made it**. No matter what anyone says, you know the truth deep down. The truth that you've made it to the top.

Celebrate and enjoy every second, every minute, and every hour of this moment. You deserve being on top of this hill.

## The Plateau of Comfort

It turns out that your journey does not end at the top of the hill.

You realized that there's more to it than just the climb because there's a vast, 
endless land in front of you that none of the stories you've heard from before mentioned.

> "There's so much to explore. The climb had not prepared me for this situation."

It turns out, it's not as bad as you think.

**You are free here**.

Free to crawl, walk, run, sprint, and sleep wherever you would like.

If you stay still, you stay still.

If you move, you move with no worries of slipping.

You could **do the things you could not do on the hill** because there's no slope and gravity to drag you back down to where you started.

You're comfortable. You could stay here as long as you would please.

After all, you've made it through the hardest part of your journey. Right?

## The Distant Mountains

One day, you saw something that you never knew you wanted. Something so amazing that you wondered...

> "Has anyone climbed those? How long did it take them? **What does it take?**"

Mountains. A range of endless mountains are revealed in front of your eyes.
Your mind goes through different waves of emotions similar to that feeling you felt when you were at the bottom of the hill.

> "Climbing the hill is nothing compared to climbing those mountains. Therefore, my accomplishments are not as worthy as I had originally thought."

You start to compare your achievements of climbing the hill and the things you've done on the plateau.
During those moments, it felt like you were unstoppable.

You also noticed that in the distance that some people have climbed even steeper hills compared to yours
and reach higher and vaster plateaus.

For a while, you've felt like everything you've done to reach this point was nothing to be proud of.

The idea that there are others way better than you steals your happiness and content.

Fortunately, these negative feelings belittling your everything about you does not linger around your
mind for too long.

Why?

Because you've felt these exact feelings before.

The feelings of disappointment, envy, sadness, and rage.

The desires of becoming better, achieving something great, and
tackling all the challenges that the journey will throw at you.

That's right. These were the same feelings and the same state
of mind you had when you were at the bottom of that hill.

This time, however, you set a new goal for yourself...

> "I will climb that mountain."

## Trekking the Valley of Madness

It turns out that to get off the vast plateau you are on, you must climb
back down to start your journey to the mountains.

Back, back, down to where you started. Maybe not exactly as low, but still to the bottom of uncertainty.

You actually don't even know what's down here. What this descent will bring you is unknown.

You start to doubt yourself and the choices you make from here on out.

> "Am I really cut for this? I've had all I need,
> but I'm throwing it all out for this. **Is this right?**"

The worst part of this trek is that **you won't even know when the descent will end**.

**You won't even know if you're making progress** towards the bottom of that mountain.

The valley of madness will slowly creep and take a toll on your mind.

The idea that **you know what you desire**, but **you do not know how to get it** will catch up to you.

The people you've met and helped on the hill who's helped you before are not here to assist you.

Maybe they're **still climbing the hill**.

Maybe they've **settled on the plateau**.

Maybe they're also **on the way to the bottom of the mountains**.

Maybe they're **already at the top**.

But one thing is certain and that is you are alone in this valley figuring out whether whatever
you do here will matter in making it to the mountains.

---

## Restrospective

I've recently read a very short book during my daily commute to work.

[**The Dip**](https://g.co/kgs/wXYtoZ) by **Seth Godin** got me
thinking about my journey into software development.

The reason why this post ends in **the Valley of Madness** is because I am currently
experiencing the biggest **"dip"** of my career.

Not that I do not like my job or no longer desire to code and develop, but it is because
being an **intermediate developer** is tougher than most will understand.

Many will say that being a **junior developer is the hardest** because you have no experience
of the industry and no one will hire you.

I can say that it was truly tough getting a junior position anywhere in this industry because
I was a junior once. I've been there and I understand the pain points of the journey.
****
However, once you've become an intermediate developer and are developing unique software for yourself
or for a company, resources such as:

- StackOverflow
- YouTube
- Medium articles
- Blog guides
- Reddit threads
- developers who post mini-guides on Twitter 😭

...can no longer help you. You will need to trust your guts and your experiences in order
to deliver high quality software. Your code is now being used by businesses and by the public.

It's difficult once you've reached this stage of your career because the resources that has helped
you before can longer assist you with a majority of your problems.

**Where do you look for help and guidance now?**

Sifting through basic tutorials on YouTube and blog posts of a library no longer brings value to your
skillset because you know how things work already.

Arguing over which framework or library becomes trivial and no longer assists you in making a decision
because they all do the same thing in the end which is what they're intended to do anyway.

And so on.

I call it the **valley of madness** because you can probably go mad
seeking the next steps of your career.

Why?

**Because not a lot will make it to this point.**

Those who have desires of achieving something great and fulfilling will probably
end up here and **their stay in the valley will determine how far they will go**.