In the pursuit of excellence, we gradually ordinary

Recently, I started pondering this question. When I graduated from high school, I imagined what my university life would be like. Back then, I envisioned:

• Participating in various activities
• Joining clubs
• Engaging in so-called college social events
• Keeping my grades above average
• Starting to practice programming
• Exploring all around Greater Taipei
• Mastering Japanese

......

Looking back now, it seems rather naïve and hopelessly optimistic. The biggest challenge I faced upon arriving in Taipei was... money. Without it, I was left with nothing but dirt to eat. So, despite wanting to have it all, I inevitably had to compromise under the harsh realities of life.

Don’t get me wrong; I'm not pessimistically giving up on my goals. In fact, I've been making progress, albeit at a slower pace. My freshman year was relatively fulfilling and happy, with minimal stress, as I indulged in the college experience. However, by the second semester, the financial pressures became increasingly urgent. There was no choice but to get a part-time job.

At that time, I was unwilling to settle for mediocrity, so whenever I had free time, I would head to the library to read novels, explore extracurricular books, and practice programming. I stumbled through this routine for an entire year.

During that year, I read nearly two hundred books and made over 1,000 contributions on GitHub. Throughout this process, I began to feel a significant transformation.

Now, while I'm not at the top of my game, I have developed a certain level of skill in front-end development.

So, I paused to reflect.

Now, here comes the dilemma. The version of me that loved playing the piano and reading novels seems to be disappearing at an alarming rate. In my spare time, I've spent the most hours reading articles about web development and writing code-related content. You might say, "Where there is passion, there must be skill." Yes, but is the price of this skill too high? I don't know. After all, with my current ability, I probably don’t deserve to call myself a professional just yet! However, I don’t want to grow up to be someone who talks solely about front-end and programming, gradually forgetting who I used to be.

Thinking about it now, it’s quite frightening. To survive in Taipei, I sacrificed my quality of life for part-time work, and my participation in social activities has dwindled. Now that I've finally found a glimmer of opportunity to make things right, it feels like I’m unable to do so.

Will I become that loathsome adult by the time I turn thirty?

Amidst the currents of life, I seem to have forgotten my original intentions. This doesn’t mean that programming is bad, but I hope to reflect on why I embarked on this path in the first place. Was it driven by passion, or simply because the prospects looked good and everyone else was doing it? To the experienced seniors who have navigated the workforce for a while, I wonder how you’ve felt along your journey. Most of my friends are in the same age group as I am.

If you're willing, could you share your experiences and thoughts with me? Is there a chance that one day I’ll inevitably climb the corporate ladder, forced to abandon coding and gradually embark on a new path?