This is a really great post. For me, the recurring theme is knowing what's possible.
From a class he took in high school, Vik knew that some sort of automation was possible. That spurred some reading and exploration, which led to some success.
Success led to thinking about other opportunities for automation and more exploration of what's possible, which in turn led to more success.
To me, it absolutely doesn't matter that things could have been done in other ways. Nothing to cringe about here. A developer can only use approaches that he/she knows or suspects are possible.
In the day-to-day work of a developer, knowing what's possible is perhaps the most important thing. Anything else can be googled.
Equally important to knowing what is possible is to not know what is considered impossible, or at least considered very hard. Automation is often considered futile, and knowing that can be intimidating. We are often limited by what we think is impossible, but really isn't.
It is said that most Nobel prizes are earned for research done before 30, since any older and they would know the breakthrough they are trying to accomplish is impossible :)
From a class he took in high school, Vik knew that some sort of automation was possible. That spurred some reading and exploration, which led to some success.
Success led to thinking about other opportunities for automation and more exploration of what's possible, which in turn led to more success.
To me, it absolutely doesn't matter that things could have been done in other ways. Nothing to cringe about here. A developer can only use approaches that he/she knows or suspects are possible.
In the day-to-day work of a developer, knowing what's possible is perhaps the most important thing. Anything else can be googled.