A few years ago, I felt privileged to be involved in a mature open-source project where my salary was paid by a government research grant. As it turned out, I was ill-equipped for this three-month contract which included some very stressful network support in a medical setting and, to add to that, the project was poorly managed with poor lines of communication. My dream job had suddenly become a nightmare. Never, in my experience, though, did I learn as much about programming in as short a period of time. Psychologically, the only way through this episode in my life was for me to actively look for the good in things and focus on my love of programming.

What role has gratitude played in your life as a programmer?