DarqByte

Yes, the title is ominous, as it should be. But no, this has nothing to do with religion.

Very recently, a good friend of mine lost faith in their profession. At least, this is the best way I can put this. And it’s not me, so this whole “friend of mine” is not a euphemism for myself. I haven’t lost faith in my profession.

In any case, I had a long discussion with them regarding this. They’ve been a pretty idealistic person for much of their life, as they try to see the good in things and always give people the benefit of the doubt. They believe(d) in their profession and all the good that it could do.

Unfortunately, all of that recently came crashing down. For a lot of their life they’ve had somebody to look up to either personally or professionally. For example, there are plenty of people that IT people look up to, and they’re not named Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer or Michael Dell. People like Miguel de Icaza come to mind there.

Sadly, pretty much everybody that outranks my friend has come crashing down to Earth. At least ethically. The high standards and ideals that my friend has set for their profession haven’t been met by anybody but themselves. They’ve reached the point where they are the only person to achieve that pinnacle of hard work, dedication, ethical conduct and excellent production and output. There’s nobody else. Just them.

That really hit my friend hard, and it shocked me too. I always thought that their profession was just chuck-filled with people worth of being looked up to. But maybe not. Apparently not, given how things are shaking out.

I mean, what do you do? What do you do when you’re the hardest worker? When nobody else is as ethical about your job as you? When nobody else cares, when you want guidance and there’s nobody else better than you to give you that guidance? What do you do if you’re in that position and you’re not the top dog? When everybody above you is either incompetent or just doesn’t care?

I can honestly say I’m very happy this has not happened to me. It’s got to be a total system shock, having your faith in your profession crushed and wondering where to go with your career and life. Sure, I’ve dealt with dumbasses and idiots in my career, but there have always been people I’ve been around that hold themselves to that higher standard and actually achieve, rather than fall. I sure hope that if I ever reach the pinnacle and find myself alone, that I’ve reached the top and don’t ever need guidance again. I can’t imagine that feeling.