Motivation is Key

Far and away the best prize that life offers
is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

– Theodore Roosevelt

Happiness is not in the mere possession of money;

it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.

– Franklin D. Roosevelt

As if struck by the obvious, I am becoming increasingly aware of the variety of differing motivations to work that people have; that is to say that I shouldn't read what motivates me into what must motivate them and be discouraged when it doesn't, nor should I feel strange when what motivates others fails to motivate me. These things have bothered me deeply, on and off.

The Perfect Position - A Wish List

“If you want to build a ship don’t herd people together to collect wood
and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them
to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”

– Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I'm discovering that I'm not an engineer in the same vein that many seem to commonly use that term. I'm probably in the top half – on a good day perhaps even in the top quarter – of networking-specific technologists in my area. It doesn't bother me to have met many I consider better. I keep them in the back of my mind when I need to vet an idea or problem. Or one day hire them. I can stand out well enough technically, but my own selling point is different: