The average Joe amongst us likes to see himself as a beacon of professionalism; Oh yes, that's us! The blockchain-virtuoso, code whisperers, firewall gymnasts, scaling savants, - we are the Systems Administrators and Software Developers! But there’s a moment in this journey that changes everything: the breathtaking ascent to 'professional'. Maybe some starry-eyed intern declared in awe, "You're a real pro!". Or, shazam!, one bright morning we find ourselves inexplicably promoted.
But, oh, the cruel irony! See, this 'pat-me-on-the-back', these celebratory high-fives, and the comforting hum of that shiny, new designation is actually the start of an intellectual Bermuda triangle. It’s what gently ushers you into a cushy comfort zone, a welcome mat into the danger zones where we are lulled into believing we’ve caught that invincible golden snitch.
It's the warm cup of complacency that whispers sweet delusions into our ears - “You're the Gandalf of your field! Stay put, this techno-landscape will never change.” Boom! That's the trap. The pitfall. The proverbial banana peel on the footpath to eternal wisdom.
When you start believing that you're solely breathing the rarefied air of a technology or you’ve unlocked its god-mode, then my friend, you're not just wrong, you're like a lost unicorn in a tech-Tsunami.
What’s this musing about? Oh, it's a sort of cautionary tale for those sauntering along the digital landscape, with a smug "been there, done that" attitude, conveniently skipping parts of a new tech like it’s some complex street dance. We naively assure ourselves that we are acquainted with the common steps, and we can sit out the complicated ones. Guess what? The techno-gods laugh at our folly.
Don't believe me? Cue flashback: Yours truly was learning WCF (Windows Communication Foundation). During my training, with confidence buoyed up like a helium balloon, I skipped a whopping 3 hours of training, thinking I'm doing myself a favour - really, why would I need to learn the security part of WCF when I already mastered WSE, Security+ and even CISSP? To spend 2 days later, of course, when client's high security configuration simply couldn't let my application through. Imagine that, they did something differently. I'm taking it for granted ever since.