Childhood activity that most translates to current successes

Rose Fan

I can’t pinpoint any one particular childhood activity that I think translates to current successes. There are many that probably seem like candidates - Mock Trial, playing an instrument, blogging, attending a Magnet high school focused on math and science. And yet, to draw a nice little connection between those and the environment I’m in today, no matter how seemingly correlated, still doesn’t seem honest or genuine.

I thought that school and the boundaries of childhood were quite mundane. If you knew how to play the system, you could win. But it was a rat race of scores and grades and rankings that were standardized ways of measuring people and comparing them against each other and I didn’t like that. In the last few years, when I’ve been outside of those confines and have found a company that doesn’t emphasize traditional roles or structure as a means to an end, I’ve felt a lot more empowered to make decisions and figure things out.

I attribute my current successes to relatively current (i.e. no longer childhood) and drastic changes or pivot points of my life, when I finally felt like the reigns of my life were in my hands. Childhood for me doesn’t map to them, at least not in an obvious way.

Abby Bangser

I am a true believer that who you are at a young age translates to who you will become as you grow up. While I have grown tremendously from my education, work experience and travel adventures I think I am still at heart the same kid that was full of passion and drive. Growing up my parents were great about helping me do anything I wanted to try, which revolved heavily around sports (even ice hockey, though much to my mothers dismay!). Through sports I learned how to be gracious in defeat yet tenacious during competition. I learned about the impact of a weakest link in a team, from both the strong and weak positions. I learned when to lead and when to follow. And most importantly I learned how hard I could push myself and the amazing results when I did so.

Those lessons are pretty standard if you talk to any former athletes, and there are a million articles and studies that translate these into future leadership and business success. But to translate this into being in software development or a consultant took a little thinking. One thing that I remember doing even from a young age is learning from everyone. This meant even if I didn't agree with someone or I couldn't master the skill that moment I filed it away in my rolodex (this analogy in itself is thanks to one of my coaches) and kept it on file to re-attempt at a future time. I think that this understanding that everyone has something to share and teach translates brilliantly to having success as a consultant. Coming into a client's office with the humility to understand you may not have all the answers allows you to make an even greater impact while also leaving better off yourself.

Linda Goldstein

The problem with my childhood as it relates to my professional life is the perception of some people that it was too recent. I have, several times from different sources, gotten "Aw, you're my daughter's age."

I am not like your daughter and I do not have any familial obligations relevant to this situation. I am the person trying to help you learn how to refactor code, write unit tests, and generally meet deadlines. Please try to put on your professional hat and remember this.

In my opinion the love of learning is easier to have when one has not learned to not love learning- which implies that age is a form of handicap in the field of development. I have met devs with thoroughly white hair who are fast enough on the uptake to leave me in the binary dust, and I am honored and delighted to work with them and try to imitate their learning.

The activity in my childhood that I think contributed most to my current state was reading excessive amounts of science fiction.