the scariest thing I've read all year
Here is the link. You have to scroll down to see JD's response to Mahadev. I quote:
Keep in mind that maybe you're looking for something that is what you *want* rather than what you can do well. I know people who really want to developers, but won't sit down at a computer and bang out code because it scares them. Or who develop small applications using frameworks but aren't driven to learn how it all works below the covers. Microsoft is not some magical place, but they do insist that developers know the internals of things and not just the surface.
Why this freaked me out:
* I think people will do really well at things they want to do. I absolutely do not want to teach school. I would be great at it without trying. Eventually I would stink, and become someone I do not want to be. As Dumbledore says, it's the choices that make the person, not that past.
* Nothing pushes my anxiety like thinking that I need to know everything. It's called being pragmatic, but whoa, if using the framework to code is not good enough then yowza, someone please give me 10 years to study and then come back to my current place in time.
* It sounds like lots of consolatory advice I've gotten, when trying to work at MS. Well meaning friends and relatives think I have a lot to offer. And they will say so. Especially in teaching. (Just kidding.)
I'm still a little freaked out from this, but here are some other thoughts that might be comforting to me later, after a good cry:
* It is absolutely impossible that everyone at Microsoft is completely evolved, managerially and technically.
* Microsoft is a magical place. There is simply room there to do great things. Everyone gets smarter when they are in a great environment.
* Lots of people want to do things perfectly. A better choice is to manage the imperfection.