Negative effects of arrogance on programmers.

Albert Einstein once said - "The only thing more dangerous than ignorance is arrogance". Well, someone found out the truth behind these words the hard way. This is a long-awaited blog. I wanted to write this for many days, but at last it's completed and it'll help you to avoid the mistakes a certain someone made a long time ago. This blog is less of an informational blog rather, it's a story of someone who drowned in arrogance but fortunately learnt to swim out of it. If you are not interested in the story part, just jump to the 9^th paragraph. So, without any further ado, let's begin.

How it all started

There was a guy, a very shy one. Not, so good in studies, not good at making friends, just a good at nothing fella. But actually, there was a talent buried deep down, inside of him. No one ever knew that he will be good in such an appreciated field. While he was in class X he found a nice friend. That friend of him led him to the place where the journey begins.

Now, let's call the protagonist of this story Mr. A.

Mr. A found a world where he can create his own fantasies true. He went there just in search of basic knowledge, but somehow he got so much indulged in the subject that he started going far beyond the syllabus, he used to cover up the syllabus even before it was started in the training center. Well, what he was learning, is Web Designing and Development. The first phase was easy for all of his classmates, and so for him. It was just HTML and CSS, which you know is not that hard to learn. But what comes next was totally on a different level, not for most of the people. But for Mr. A it was something as hard as maths. Just so you know, Mr. A scored 54% marks in mathematics in class X. Now, what was it that scared the death out of Mr. A. Well it was a programming language, and Mr. A's life's very first programming language, it was PHP.
Let's assume it's all happening in the present...

Mr. A aced through HTML and CSS with ease, but it has been two months since the day PHP was started in the class. Everyone is trying their best and are even able to perform very well. But Mr. A, it's all rocket science, bouncing right off his head. But there was something that, Mr. A was very good at, "He never gave up". But for some reason, Mr. A was just unable to understand, what the heck is a loop? what in the world is a switch case? Just what is going on. Is this PHP thing even of this world? These were the questions, haunting him day and night. Just, when he was about to give up and accept that PHP is not something he can learn, life took an unexpected turn, and kaboom! Mr. A completed all the stuff that was taught in two months in just a week. And thus, the journey of his arrogant lifestyle begins...

"Slow success builds character. Fast success builds ego." These wise words were said by Kareen Burke, famous as "Biggs Burke", an American Entrepreneur, Co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records. The later one happened with Mr. A.

Mr. A described the whole story as - It was summer of 2018, our instructor came up with an idea to make a calculator using PHP. I was still no good at it. The first day, we completed all the basic stuff for a calculator, all there is left, is to complete the logical part, which will handle all the calculations. We kept it on hold for the next class. The next day, a friend of mine showed a calculator made in php, it wasn't how we wanted it to be. It has two form fields and 4 options for four four calculations, and a submit button. Our instructor was trying to make a graphical one, with all numbers as buttons, and everything visually appealing. I know that friend of mine has copied it from somewhere on the internet, but when I said so in front of everyone, well I am glad that I did. He was furious, the anger and was dripping from his face and he insulted me so bad with just one sentence. "teri to ye banane ki bhi aukaat nahi". In english it will be, "You are incapable of even doing this". Those were his exact words.

Mr. A never felt so bad. He was angry, at the same time he knew that he himself was to blame for this insult. He didn't sleep that night, instead of accepting his defeat, Mr. A went head to head with PHP. Just in one week, he was on a different level. Soon after that, he also started getting ahead of what is being taught in the class. It was like a miracle to him at least. But he didn't realize, that this fast success sowed the seeds of arrogance deep inside of him. Which is going to be fatal for his carreer as a programmer.

While he aced through programming, he also applied for a full time diploma in computer science at a polytechnic college. Even though he was bad at mathematics, he had such confidence to apply for a technical diploma. All this confidence was build up because he knew he can do anything, only if he belive in himself.

It's two years since Mr. A started as a newbie and is a full flegid web developer now. Thanks to his full time diploma course, he also learned many other programming languages. But that wasn't enough to satisfy his hunger for learning, he went even further and he learned many other languages which he only had heard names of. He has also started freelancing as a web developer, where he worked with many international clients and also some local clients. He earned a good pay too. But deep inside of him, the seed is all grown up into a tree, and it was ready to give him the fruits of arrogance. He used to ask for a very high pay even as a new developer, he also got paid because of his skills. All these kept ripening up the fruit of arrogance. And not soon after, he was kicked out of a start up, he lost all his clients, his skills were outdated, no one liked the designs and features he provides in his websites. All the weapons in his arsenal went dull.

End of the story.

Now, did you understand the moral of the story? It's just that, he taught he knew everything, he was the best in his field, he made a kingdom of his own, and he was a king without any crown. These were the reasons behind his fallen kingdom, the kingdom that never existed in reality.

His friends started making websites, stunning as the Niagara Falls. His friends, made programs as fantastic as the northern lights. Whereas he, was just crying inside, feeling sorrow and despair. But, it wasn't too late, and he started pushing himself again back on track, he kept on learning, he kep practicing, honing his skills. At last, he was again on the right path. It was as if life has given him the second chance, but actually he was just back on his feet before it's too late. Because, life never gives you a second chance.

Frankly speaking, that Mr. A is me. I am Abhishek Pandey. The programmer who learned those words by Einstein the hard way. It was me, who was drowning in arrogance. Thank god, I realized it before it was too late.

"I am still learning, and I know nothing. Even if I try to learn everything, it's physically impossible. I am Abhishek Pandey, and I am as ignorant as ever." This were the words I keep telling myself every day, so that I won't walk down that path of arrogance once again. Because, I know, the feeling of knowing everything, makes you arrogant, and as you become arrogant, you become a fool. You will stop learning, because you think you know everything, but always remember there is someone out there, who is far better than you, and the only reason behind his success is that he never stopped learning. I am still not over it yet, I still think that I am nobody, and that's the reason, I will become somebody. The only thing will never become is arrogant.

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." - Socrates