At the beginning of 2020, near the start of my indie journey, I found this thing called SparkTest from a person named Johnathan Fields. I reread my "type" results and I didn't connect it until now, but this probably planted the seed in my head to start formally mentoring/teaching programming.
The reason I am thinking about all this, is this idea of compounding and doing something, one thing, for a long time. I have been doing this side project of teaching/mentoring for a long time (~20 months). Why is that?
Well, I didn't start off with grand plans or by working out 20 steps ahead. I just started with one student (Nikolai, who was a truck driver learning to code and would sometime call into our meetings from inside an actual truck. That was inspiring, he was dedicated). And then kept going and going.
There were times I wanted to quit. Sometimes students wouldn't show up during the free period or had to process refunds for that person who wasted my time, failed show-up after confirming, rescheduling multiple days in a row. But there were other students who were committed. So I never did quit.
Maybe the real reason I haven't quit is because what I am doing is aligned with what I'm meant to be doing? (The SparkTest results below surely imply that) The only thing missing is, in addition to teaching, time for deep learning, studying, building just for the sake of it. (and the little thing of how to generate meaningful revenue. I don't know how to make real money this way.)
Yes I understand that these "tests" that tell you your "type" are not real science. And they sure do use extremely flattering language that make you feel warm and fuzzy. But the things I highlighted below are...whoa (keanu reeves style, in every movie). They leave me speechless.
Your Primary Sparketype reveals the essential nature or "driver" of the work you're here to do (whether it's the work you get paid to do, or not). When you do the work of your Primary Sparketype, you come alive with purpose and, fully-expressed in a healthy way, deepen into meaning, flow, connection and joy.
As a Sage, teaching or "illuminating" is your call. You live to share ideas, knowledge and experiences with others in a way that lifts them up and leaves them changed. This doesn't mean, by the way, you call yourself a teacher, or work in a field where it is a part of your title or even job description. It's about the essential nature of work that lets you feel most alive, and you can do this in nearly any field or endeavor.
That means, of course, that you have to know something before you can teach it. So, you regularly seek to learn and study, you may even pour yourself into solving big problems or making things, and there is a certain genuine satisfaction in that. But, if you're really being honest, you do these things, in no small part, because you want to have more and better wisdom to turn around and teach. They're more a means to the end of being extraordinary at sharing wisdom in a way that leaves people better.
When you see the lights of discovery go on in the faces of others, it's magic. But, for you, it's not enough to simply "convey information," you want those you teach or mentor to truly "get it," and you want to be engaged and inspired at every step along the way. It's about the process as much as the awakening. So you work tirelessly and with a sense of mission to find ways to share what you know that create genuine understanding and bring students, mentees, colleagues on a journey of discovery along with you. This is what makes you wake up in the morning.
Your Shadow Sparketype is The Maven, which means you latch onto a topic, field or industry and devour everything you can know about it. Staying "surface level" just isn't an option for you. It's no fun. You are driven to learn, to discover, to ferret out information, wisdom and knowledge. But, for you, when you're really being honest, that drive is almost always in service of doing the work of your Primary Sparketype at the higher possible level. It's more a means than an end.