what makes me qualified?
Cockiness and overconfidence have never been a part of my regimen. I think I’ve been a pretty humble person in my career – partly because I know how much I don’t know, and partly some childhood insecurity, I’m sure.
At the same time, I’m very conscious of what I _do_ know.
That’s what makes me good at what I do. I know how to build applications, I know how to solve problems, I can figure out how to do it in a way that makes sense for today and will work well into the future.
So, I’ve never built a threading application in C. The definitions in my glossary are pretty crappy, because they’re built on experience and not on textbooks. I have all the respect in the world for people who have a strong foundation in the fundamentals – I was raised by educators, so I get the value of it.
Every so often, however, I get put in a situation that unexpectedly asks me to question my qualifications. I have to take a long hard look at my training-to-experience ratio and say “is it enough?”
Then I look back at what I’ve *actually* done. What I’ve produced. Who I’ve helped, and where they are today, and I’ve got right there the proof. Ask anyone I’ve worked with – they’ll tell you I’m qualified.