I recommend taking an active interest in becoming a documentarian. Document things as you go, create wiki pages. While unrewarding, this task usually never goes unnoticed. IMO, understanding why things are the way they are makes one a better programmer.<p>Not sure about you but when I had history classes in school I was totally bored and could not appreciate it. But these days, I wish I had paid more attention. It really is a lot of fun to know historical facts and why things came to be and why they are the way they are.