Validated. Professionally.
One of the downsides of working as a contractor doing most of the work at home, alone, was that I never really interacted with my peers professionally. All I had was Google and a few books. So I had to learn and teach myself everything based on what I “read” as best practices. A lot of those learning experiences were trial and errors. But in many ways, this was a good thing because I was a clean slate without the burdens of pre-existing, outdated methodologies an established company may impose on its staff.
So when I decided to take up a “job”, one of my objectives was to find out if what I know is what’s being practiced by my peers. I wanted validation to my methodologies. And I wanted to learn more from others. My new job basically gave me a free reign on most of what I’d like to implement. So I brought with me my methods of client-side development in terms of CSS (and CSS resets), Unobtrusive Javascript programming, semantic XHTML markups, separation of structure, presentation and logic… etc etc. But I still have no idea if there’s more to be learned. Surely there was.
The company decided to hire a technical auditor to audit all the technical aspects of what we do and how we do it. I was thrilled and was really looking forward to learning from this guy. About 15 minutes into my explanation on what I do, I asked if he’d recommendations on how I can improve on what I do. He answered, “Nope. You are ahead of the game. You are doing everything I’d recommend my clients do.”
I was really pleased to be validated by someone who’s job is supposed to magnify and correct inefficiencies and issues. He was surprised I was even using Unobtrusive Javascript programming because so few people even have heard of it, let along practicing it.
So that made my day. Now I know I am actually up to par with the top ranks and I should probably raise my rate. 
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