Enjoy the journey of life, learn from each moment.

All points in your life intersect through you.
Think of all that experiences you have, to combine in ways that have never been tried before.

Brilliance is just a matter of combining experiences and ideas you have had applied in ways no one else has thought of in a particular situation.

They pay me for those momentary flashes of brilliance each day.

PRORAMMING
Listen to the request for help.
keep listening - do not assume you know the answer and start contemplating a solution.
Ask for clarification, claiming ignorance - You will be amazed at how often that claim turns out to be true.
Speak to others with needs for the same types of help, your expanded insight will improve your solution.
Mentally solve the problem 3 ways, using only existing programs and systems.

Decision time: to code or not to code, that is the question.

If the solution can be implemented without code - GREAT, it's done. and you can move on to other cool things.

If the solution needs coding - GREAT, you now have a program that really needs to be written, using all the neat techniques and skills you possess, or will possess because you have need to epand your boundaries.

Elegance: the simplest solution with the best performance that will work for the most people at the lowest cost.

Solution test suite: Would I want to use my solution to do my job every day in exactly the way I am asking others to use it?

Enjoy!
John