9 Final thoughts on creativity

 

This chapter covers

  • Creativity as an attainable skill, not a preset one
  • Different perceptions of creativity based on experience
  • When not to be creative
  • Further reading suggestions

We started out this creative adventure with the premise of awakening your inner homo faber. By investing in technical knowledge, communication, constraints, critical thinking, curiosity, a creative state of mind, and creative techniques, I guarantee that you will gradually progress toward becoming a Creative Programmer. Yet one of the hardest quests is yet to come: putting theory into practice. That is something you’ll have to undertake by yourself. Roadblocks will appear to test your curiosity and persistence. I hope I’ve inspired you to press on and continue down the path.

And with that, I’d like to thank you for staying with me on this mission of exploration. It has been a wild ride, but as they say, “The best is yet to come.” My job as a writer offering insights into creative problem solving in software engineering is now done, while your job as a graduate Creative Programmer is only beginning.

Good luck on the journey ahead! Remember that if the going gets tough, this book will be there to act as a guide. Flip through the chapters now and then to remind yourself that creativity isn’t rocket science: everyone can be creative.

9.1 Remember, everyone can be creative

9.2 On the evolving perspective of creativity

9.2.1 From technical individualism to a creative team player

9.2.2 Revisiting the CPPST

9.3 When not to be creative

9.4 Further reading