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Contemplating My Career
Dec. 31st, 2010 10:43 amA long time ago, I read something about what reaching first-degree black belt in a martial art really signified. While it is usually taken to mean a mastery of the art, in truth it means only that one now knows enough to be capable of learning. In academia, a Ph.D. signified something similar: the holder finally knows enough to begin really learning the subject. Whether these concrete examples are accurate or not, they seemed to me to capture a truth, and they've stuck with me through the years.
I mention this because I'm really starting to feel that I've reached that point with my career. That is, after six and a half years of practicing, I've achieved shodan at patent law. The elements and mechanics are mostly automatic by now (OK, so conceivably, I'm still at 1 kyu, but it's close), and I can start to concentrate on other things.
There hasn't been any event that's triggered this thought; to the contrary, it's been bouncing around my head for a while. But it's the end of the year, and that's as good a time as any to think about what I've achieved so far and to be happy about it.
I mention this because I'm really starting to feel that I've reached that point with my career. That is, after six and a half years of practicing, I've achieved shodan at patent law. The elements and mechanics are mostly automatic by now (OK, so conceivably, I'm still at 1 kyu, but it's close), and I can start to concentrate on other things.
There hasn't been any event that's triggered this thought; to the contrary, it's been bouncing around my head for a while. But it's the end of the year, and that's as good a time as any to think about what I've achieved so far and to be happy about it.
