i spent years optimizing for potential. taking courses, reading theory, waiting to feel "ready." meanwhile, people with half the talent were lapping me.
the world doesn't care about your capacity. it rewards your audacity. you don't get paid for what you know. you get paid for the risks you take.
Someone asked about tricks for meeting eminent people. I said the best plan is just to do really good work. Then you'll tend to meet them organically. In the worst case you'll see one whenever you look in the mirror.
This has been said a thousand times before, but allow me to add my own voice: the era of humans writing code is over. Disturbing for those of us who identify as SWEs, but no less true. That's not to say SWEs don't have work to do, but writing syntax directly is not it.