People who know me professionally in the software circle see me as an author of a few technical books, software trainer, engineering manager and programmer. People who know me personally see me as someone who was once playing several musical instruments and was a blogger reviewing music albums. In fact I did not formally study programming in college. I did my graduation in English literature and liked to read about Gibran and the likes.
More than a decade ago, I accidentally started working on computer programs and picked up the skills gradually that I have today. Some people wrongly attributed to me that I am a self-taught person. No I am not a self-taught person. I do not have any special abilities to create talent inside me on my own. I doubt if anyone can ever be self-taught!
I wouldn’t have been in this position as an expert if not for the thousands of teachers who generously shared their knowledge on the internet either through their blog post or through their videos or answering my questions on the forum whenever I got stuck. These all people whom I never met, never knew beyond their internet avatar, who did not expect anything in return belong to the crowd that taught me. I am CrowdTaught not self-taught.
This crowd for all practical purposes can be considered anonymous whom I cannot possibly meet and share my gratitude. The only way I can share my gratitude is to become part of this crowd and pay it forward.