## Why this book?
-This book is about helping your journey of being a mediocre programmer. Together we'll uncover some of common misconceptions we have about programming, failure, and growth. We'll understand that the act of programming and development is something we undertake each day and can improve in small ways. It's these small changes that transform us from being mediocre programmers into better programmers.
+This book is about helping you on your journey as a mediocre programmer. Together we'll uncover some of common misconceptions we have about programming, failure, and growth. We'll understand that the act of programming and development is something we undertake every day. Every day we can improve in small ways. It's these small changes that transform us from being mediocre programmers into better programmers.
-There are plenty of books on how to become a better programmer out there. Books like this tend to have checklists and other advice that the author deems important enough for you to do in order to become a better programmer. They tend to focus on specific improvements like choosing a better editor, writing better test cases, or drinking lots of water. Those books have lots of useful advice, but they read like a laundry list of things that you must do all at once in order to succeed. This book will try not to saddle you with more work (you likely have enough as it is). Rather, we'll discuss what it feels like to be a programmer. We'll talk about the emotions in being a programmer; the feelings of frustration, guilt, anger, and inadequacy. We'll cover the struggles in learning new things and keeping your skills current. We'll talk about those times when you feel like giving up and walking away from computing and whether those feelings come from a place of love or a worry that you're not keeping up.
+There are plenty of books on how to become a better programmer out there. They tend to have checklists and other advice that the author deems important enough for you to do in order to become a better programmer. They tend to focus on specific improvements like choosing a better editor, writing better test cases, or drinking lots of water. Those books have lots of useful advice, but they read like a laundry list of things that you must do all at once in order to succeed. This book will try not to saddle you with more work (you likely have enough as it is). Rather, we'll discuss what it feels like to be a programmer. We'll talk about the emotions that show up while we're programming; the feelings of frustration, guilt, anger, and inadequacy. We'll cover the struggles in learning new things and keeping your skills current. We'll talk about those times when you feel like giving up and walking away from computing and whether those feelings come from a place of love or a worry that you're not keeping up.
-This book is a personal journey for both of us. It's a memoir of my time as a programmer and my feelings along the way. I've thought many times about giving up and finding a different career path but doing anything other than being a computer programmer scares me even more. Does that mean I'm stuck in a perverse ouroboros of self-pity and self-doubt? Hardly. It means that I need to dig deeper to understand why I chose the path of being a programmer and realize that it took a lot to get here and it's going to take a lot more to get where I want to be. It's a commitment to seeing things as they are now and moving forward from wherever I'm standing.
+This book is a personal journey for both of us. It's a memoir of my time as a programmer and my feelings along the way. I've thought many times about giving up and finding a different career path but doing anything other than being a computer programmer scares me even more. Does that mean I'm stuck in a perverse Ouroboros of self-pity and self-doubt? Hardly. It means that I need to dig deeper to understand why I chose the path of being a programmer and realize that it took a lot to get here and it's going to take a lot more to get where I want to be. It's a commitment to seeing things as they are now and moving forward from wherever I'm standing.
## Disclaimer
-I am not a professional doctor or a therapist. I'm not qualified to give you medical advice. I'm a programmer. Anything that's in this book is given from the perspective of a struggling programmer and should not be taken as medical advice. If you need help from a medical professional please seek out that help (I even wrote an entire chapter about seeking help from others).
+I am not a professional doctor or a therapist. I'm not qualified to give you medical advice. I'm a programmer. Anything that's in this book is given from the perspective of a struggling programmer and should not be taken as medical advice. If you need help from a medical professional please seek out that help (I even wrote an entire chapter about seeking help from others near the end of this book).
-Let's start our journey by figuring out where we are and remembering what lead us to this place.
+Let's begin our journey by figuring out where we are and remembering what lead us to this place.
projects / themediocreprogrammer.git / commitdiff