The Quest for Excellence

Excellence should be the goal of every software engineer and programmer. We should seek to build good software that makes meaningful contributions to society. We should seek to constantly improve our talents and skills to be able to design better, program more effectively and become the best that we can. In our desire for excellence however, we should always consider at the cost of becoming better in our field and how it will effect our life.

There are many at the top of their fields, who are very successful in their careers but whose lives lack meaning and substance. We should not neglect family and friendships or compromise our health or our integrity to make it “to the top”. True success is the measure of one’s life, not just one’s career. It is better to be a good person and an average programmer than to be an exceptional programmer and a lousy person. It is however, better to be both.

Achieving the best of both your professional and personal life is hard, but trying to achieve your greatest potential in your career while failing in other areas in life is harder in the long run and very unsatisfying. The trick to achieving excellence in both is to make a balanced effort all around. This requires planning, preparation and keeping our priorities what they should be. It may mean turning down good opportunities in order to give time to more important things. It also means that we will have to give up what we want now, for what we want in the long run.

Acheiving excellence is a process, something we must constantly work on and improve. We must give the best of ourselves, day after day to the things that really matter. By so doing, we can live a more full life, satisfying and meaningful in all aspects.