A Different Road

Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.

-H. Jackson Brown Jr., Life’s Little Instruction Book

“A different Road” pattern shows us exactly how to follow our map and recall what we know. For some time, we might have walked through a road, and then realized that this route is not an acceptable option for us because of our drawn map. It has happened that we have found a way that is more in line with our current values. Based on this pattern, if we permanently leave the road, we will still have values and principles established along the way. This pattern shows different examples of people who decided to move on into something else and come back to bring new ideas to a company. It is okay to set people free if they have different ideas and let them come back along with the new interactions they have discovered. Unfortunately, traditional software companies are not so welcome. Such detours are also seen as questionable shortcomings in your profession you must explain later in the future. You would hope that your reason for why you left and why you came back will become important within your belief system. However, this shouldn’t be an issue for someone who wants to pursue their dream in a way or another.

What got my attention in this pattern is that we shouldn’t be afraid to do something else with our life, no matter the risks. The skills we have gotten during our journey will not leave, and at one point they will be useful wherever we go. As a software developer, with the experience, we will enrich everything we want for our future. Leaving behind the software development journey to become a professor or an instructor could be an option in our lives. We may like it or not, in the end, it’s all about trying to find where we and our knowledge best fit. I have always thought that leaving a company and coming back after a while wouldn’t be so good but based on this pattern it wouldn’t be so bad. However, there are several reasons why we would and wouldn’t want to go back to our previous employer. But let’s be positive and do what we feel it’s right. If what you were doing didn’t feel right in your career, you have the chance to return to a higher level and be where you always wanted to be in your previous company or move on to another one.