There is only real thing I’ve gotten out of this post at 37 signals: No one is going to employ me while I continue to use and have…
- “…curiosity, passion, character, motivation, taste, intuition, writing skills…“
- “…the ability to make smart value judgments.“
- “… passion and drive …“
- “… intellectual curiosity (f)or pondering (and) or experimentation …“
- “… a responsibility or drive for self-education …“
- “… self-educated … initiative … someone committed to furthering themselves….“
Experience has proven that no-one will ever include these traits in their Job Descriptions, nor even want to know about them. Experience has also proven they don’t reward you for what you believe you can do to improve the current conditions, only for what you are currently doing right now.
But the best line comes from commenter Clark MacLeod (14 Nov 07):
The chances I had to learn, theorize, experiment, and make mistakes in college could never be replicated on my own or on the job. It’s different. I think in many cases this makes for a richer life experience and a more interesting well rounded individual.
Hear, hear. Totally agree. Without the opportunity to experiment and fail whilst teaching myself HTML, CSS, photography or anything I put my mind to learning, I would never have become the man I am today. Nor would I consider myself more than average.
Stephentrepreneur.com 
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