Here's Why You Need to Destroy Career Envy

Confession time:

I'm the most envious, competitive, plot-scheming woman you'll ever meet.

I think it's because I grew up as "the poor kid" at a rich, private school. During my formative years, I was surrounded by children who had far more resources than my lower middle class family.

In my diary, I spun daily dreams of how one, sweet day I'd be the one on top. One day, those spoiled kids would look toward me in awe and adoration.

Of course, that never happened.

My private school companions went on to Stanford, Princeton, and Berkeley, while I... Well, I'm here writing this blog.

And therein lies my point -

Envy is a complete waste of your time.

Of course, I didn't have the mental capacity to understand this wisdom, but, if I had spent my energy becoming the best person that I could be - instead of wasting it in anguish - I would probably be in a much better position today.

And, therein lies another point -

Build yourself, or get left behind.

As someone who's learning to code in her 30s, it's difficult to not compare myself to traditional coders. I would give anything to start over again as a university student. They have the experience, the knowledge, and network to be successful in any endeavor.

But, if I continue to waste time thinking about what they have instead of using the resources I do have, guess what? They'll continue to have everything while I, in comparison, have nothing.

And, therein lies my last point -

Be grateful for what you do have.

No, I don't have a team of faculty, staff, and university programs at my disposal. But, I do have a computer with affordable access to the Internet.

Because of my computer and the Internet, I have access to resources like edX and Coursera, which provide tons of university-level courses on programming, math, and physics. (Did you know there's an entire open-source computer science bachelor's curriculum on GitHub?)

I also have access to websites like Reddit, where I can learn so much from others who have gone before me. I have access to Blogger, YouTube, and other social media, where I can share my experience with the world.

So, in sum - just stop with the career envy, okay?

Instead, focus your energy on becoming a badass.