You hit the nail on the head. This is exactly why I do these things, but the only difficult part is figuring out where to apply this experience and how to phrase things without sounding like a crazy person in the process. "Yeah I got bit by this when I was intentionally throwing my body out into the snakes for fun", doesn't really make quite as much of the right impact as I hope.
Ironically, I'm quite bad at product development, and where I really succeed is when I'm mentoring people and helping enable them to succeed. I'm glue professionally, which means that my individual contributions are terrible but in aggregate I help others succeed so much more that it adds up. I always look terrible at review time though, I end up having to bring a brag document and look kinda like a jackass.
Ironically, I'm quite bad at product development, and where I really succeed is when I'm mentoring people and helping enable them to succeed. I'm glue professionally, which means that my individual contributions are terrible but in aggregate I help others succeed so much more that it adds up. I always look terrible at review time though, I end up having to bring a brag document and look kinda like a jackass.