Ten Things Office Sycophants Should Avoid Saying

It was on the hallowed halls of LinkedIn where I chanced upon this article by one Vartika Kashyap quite a while ago. The career advice within struck me as spectacularly terrible and not a little out-of-touch. At the time, I put it out of my mind and concentrated on the bigger fish I had to fry.

Years later, revisiting this article, not only have my feelings about the content not changed, I feel that this article deserves a response in the form of satire.  Because, as we all know, the best way to illustrate how bad an idea is, is to agree with it and take it to its logical extreme. And, if the original concept is ridiculous enough, you don't even have to take it that far to reach its logical extreme.

Also, to be fair, advice isn't bad simply because it is bad. Context matters. For example, "stand in front of a moving bus" is great advice for becoming famous, not so much for healthy living. Similarly, Vartika Kashyap's advice is pretty good... if you want a masterclass on how to be a spineless yes-man. Thus, today, I give you... Ten Things Office Sycophants Should Avoid Saying.

1. "No"

Now, we all know that the world of the programmer is a binary one - things are either true or false with no nuance in between. We also know that the real world isn't like that. In the real world, things are what they are, and sometimes we have to temper our expectations because nobody gets what they want 100% of the time.

The answer is. No.

But to hell with all that. As a sycophant, treating your employer like a normal well-adjusted adult is out of the question. No, you should treat your employers like their parents didn't tell them "no" enough as a kids. Life is full of disappointments. Your employers are too fragile to face these harsh realities.

So don't say "no" to your employers. It's very triggering and upsetting. The only time you should say "no", is when it's paired with another negative word. As in, "no problem".

2. "I'll try"

Yoda famously said, "Do or do not. There is no try." Disregard the fact that life isn't a sci-fi movie, and take this phrase to heart. You see, your employers pay you for results. They don't pay you to try. Trying is for losers.

I'll try... and try... and try.

Saying you'll "try" is akin to giving yourself an out if you fail. It is leaving the possibility open for failure. Even if this is the real world and nothing is a certainty, your employers don't pay you to be pedantically honest, either.

Your employers will feel a lot better if you declare with ironclad certainty that you "will" do it. And we all know that their precious feelings are of the utmost importance.

3. "I don't know"

This phrase is completely unacceptable. You are paid to know. And if you don't, you are paid to either find out, or act like you know. Even the appearance of doubt cannot be tolerated.

Act like you know
the future.

Honesty is overrated. Act like you know everything - past, present, future. Finding out takes time, so if you're asked a question which you don't know the answer to, acting like you know is the fastest and therefore only viable solution. Remember, you're a sycophant. Telling your bosses what they want to hear is a mandatory skill.

Never say "I don't know". Never. Unless it's shameless flattery along the lines of "I don't know how you managed to accomplish so much!"

4. "I am busy"

Sure, your employers pay you to be busy. But if you actually tell them that you are busy, there are two implications. The first is that if you're busy to the point where you have to tell people that you're busy, you're just not that good at your job. The second implication is accusatory - your employers overloaded you.

So what if your
plate is full?

Either way, stay away from this one. Be a good yes-man (or woman) and make sure you're always available for your employers. When they tell you to jump, your only response should be to ask how high they would like you to jump.

None of this "I'm busy" bullshit. They own you.

5. "I can't"

Seriously, do I even have to explain this one? Employers want a "can-do" spirit and confidence from their employees. The phrase "I can't" reeks of loser stink. Even though your pay may not reflect it, you're expected to be perfect.

Boundaries are
unacceptable.

Some might see "I can't" as setting boundaries. Again, that is unacceptable. Any self-respecting sycophant understands that there are no boundaries.

6. "I am sorry"

Come on, that is absolute nonsense. This is on the same level of "I don't know". Saying you're sorry implies that you made a mistake, and remember, employers expect you to be perfect whether you're drawing a janitor's wages or an executive's salary.

I'm so sorry...

Accept responsibility? No, no, no. Anything but that. Blame someone else, you complete amateur. But of course, it goes without saying, that you should never blame your employers.

7. "I thought"

"You think, I thought, who confirm?" Thats a popular phrase in Singapore's military, used by nasty drill sergeants to harangue the lower ranks. This usually occurs when a soldier makes the mistake of saying "I thought...".

Stop thinking, soldier!

Obviously, in the military, people are valued by the amount of thinking they don't do, and it's supposed to be the exact opposite in the corporate world.

Your boss doesn't want to be reminded that you're a human being with thoughts, opinions and assumptions. It makes it harder to exploit you that way. Be a good sycophant and keep the thinking to a minimum.

8. "I couldn't"

On the surface, this sounds very similar to "I can't". But while "I can't" refers to a task that's being assigned to you, "I couldn't" refers to some failure to execute an already assigned task.

Well, it's good to see that you're taking the blame like an adult (you know taking the blame is at least partially why the company pays you, right?) but this reminds your employers that you're not infallible and it annoys them.

Flaws are also
unacceptable.

Even though, if you were infallible, logically you probably would be in the position to employ them instead. But no, we don't need to apply logic to the situation. The best way to avoid having to say "I couldn't" in the first place, is not to fail at all. Ever think about that? No? Do better.

9. "That's impossible"

Such a Debbie Downer! This is exactly the kind of thing employers hate hearing. Did mankind make it to the Moon with that kind of attitude? Well, you certainly won't.

Was this impossible too?

While it's certainly true that, objectively, some things are physically or logically impossible, your employers certainly do not need to be reminded by you. Your job here is to be the try-hard, the endless optimist. If your employer wanted actual realistic advice, they have people they actually pay for the privilege. If you're just a sycophant, that's not your role. Stay in your lane.

That said, if you absolutely need to be that honest, you have to be prepared to take it further. Just saying "that's impossible" doesn't cut it.

"Nothing like this has been successful since World War Two." Just like that. Add context to why it's impossible.

"This is a brilliant idea, and it's a pity that it's completely illegal." Sneak in a compliment somewhere. Try not to overdo that part because it just sounds condescending.

 "This completely contravenes the laws of physics and common sense." And qualify it. How impossible is impossible? Though you'll want to leave out things like that last part.

10. "It’s not my fault"

Now, these could be fighting words. If it's not your fault, whose fault is it? Who are you potentially accusing? Thus, this phrase is at best whiny and at worst, finger-pointy. It's your fault because your employer says it is, end of. That's the correct attitude that any sycophant worth their salt should aspire to.

Your fault.

Besides, if a problem crops up, your employers want you to be busy fixing it and not determining who's to blame, especially if they are the cause of the problem. Whether or not it's your fault, is really not the point. It's your responsibility.

Is it the janitor's fault that someone took a giant shit on the white marble floor? No, of course not. But it's still his job to clean it up. Same goes for you. Not your fault? What are you, twelve?

Let me be real for a minute...

Once again, these are obviously just satire. I should certainly hope nobody works for anyone with these expectations, unless they're paid really well to take that nonsense. It also goes without saying that I would sooner hurl myself from the window of my swanky new apartment before I ever considered working for employers like that.

The ten phrases above I not only expect employees to apply when necessary, I consider it their professional duty to do so. Push back against stupid ideas and unreasonable expectations; it's your job, dammit.

Your impossible programmer,
T___T

Tech Workers: Hard vs Soft Skills (Part 2/2)

We've looked at hard skills, now let's explore soft skills!

Soft Skills

Contrary to popular belief, soft skills are not just about getting along wth other people, or getting them to think highly of you. It is about communication. It's not about proficiency in any given language and knowing fancy long words - there are plenty of people without a formal education who communicate a lot better than people who speak the Queen's English. Conversely, I've known people who are great at English, but come off so insufferable that nobody wants to deal with them. Being able to speak a language well does not automatically make one persuasive. Thus, proficiency in a language is more of a hard skill than a soft one.

It's all  about
communication.

Whether it's giving someone their flowers, managing expectations or diffusing potential (or existing!) tensions, discount soft skills at your peril. Just as a skilled programmer knows when to code and when not to code, someone well-versed in soft skills knows when to talk and when not to talk.

Soft skills are the skills that deal with communication with human beings. Human-computer interaction or just human-to-human communication? It is all relevant. Software is used by human beings, and developed by human beings. Therefore, any communication involving human beings remains a valuable skill.

What happens when you neglect soft skills?

Remember that the number one goal of software development is to solve problems and add value. In the case of your organization, it probably means to solve business problems and add business value.

Even without going into the area of personnel management, soft skills are very relevant in the software product itself. When developers concentrate on using technical skills and exclude soft skills, there's a danger that they will wind up with solutions that simply don't improve the product for the end-user. And this is important, why? Because ultimately, products are created for users. And that involves having enough empathy to understand what the end-user needs as opposed to what is technically superior.

The problem with management skills is that they're often not seen as a skill in their own right. People, for some strange reason, seem to think that programmers become better managers just because they've been writing code longer. News flash - practice in a skill improves that particular skill. Thus, practicing writing code only makes a developer better at writing code. Spending time developing software makes a dev better at developing software. Not at managing people.

Collaborative effort.

Sure, a more experienced software developer would be better at handling the software development process. Identifying potential pitfalls. Troubleshooting. But that same developer would not necessarily be good at delegation of work, managing personality clashes in a team, accounting to higher management for schedule shortfalls, and the like. These are a different set of skills, no matter how much people want to pretend otherwise.

Therefore, if you're promoted only for your technical ability, you'll get found out as soon as they start giving you subordinates. That's where any weaknesses you have at the actual art of man-management, will be exposed.

Where I stand with Soft Skills

As mentioned earlier, proficiency with the English language (or any language) does not automatically make one a good communicator. I happen to be living proof of that. There's been times I tried to describe a problem in a Service Request and fell far short of making myself understood. There have been also times I tried to describe a solution, with similar results.

Sometimes I forget that the people I speak to aren't technically trained, and that I have to be explicit when explaining certain things. Sometimes even with technically-trained personnel, it's good to spell things out just to be safe. There are times something sounds good in my head, only to sound comically wrong after I put it in writing.

Comes out wrong in writing.

That's one of the reasons I blog. Even if I never reach a wide audience, the point is the exercise in communication. Explaining technical concepts. Use of analogies. Appropriately describing my feelings and positions, both positive and negative, about certain subjects.

All said, I could always improve. All of us could. It's a skillset so wide that it covers all industries, not just software, at all levels.

In conclusion...

Hard skills are the skills that deal with computers.

Soft skills are the skills that deal with people.

In today's world, it's extremely hard to survive in the tech industry without a certain modicum of either one. There are, of course, extreme examples of each, but they are outliers.

For good or for skill,
T___T

Tech Workers: Hard vs Soft Skills (Part 1/2)

Software development is a skilled profession, but not for the reason most people think. That's because when people think of software development, the skills they associate with the industry are those of the technical variety.

However, there are two main categories of skills that make professionals valuable to their employers - hard and soft skills.

The burning question today is, which skills are more important to the tech professional? The answer to that, of course, is that they're both important. Perhaps one is more important than the other at certain stages of a tech career. There are software engineers who sneer at the concept of "being good with people". Conversely, there are people who think those who focus on hard skills are just obnoxious nerds. Who's right? Let's explore that.

Hard Skills

Hard skills are the skills that deal with tech stacks, troubleshooting and software analysis. Software is the backbone of, well, software. Thus the skills to build software are pretty damn important.

Databases, programming languages and operating systems are just tools. The true test of hard skills is the ability to get things done regardless of the tools at hand. And for that, doing rather than talking, is key.

Being good with your tools.

It's the know-how that is important, not so much the specific skillset. For instance, no one's probably going to care if you have the entire Ruby syntax memorized; but if you've dabbled enough in various programming languages that picking up a new one and being useful in it relatively quickly, it's always going to be valued.

Similarly, expertise in a specific tech stack is nice and all, but being able to pinpoint the possible fault points of a script gone wrong, regardless of the tech stack used? That's worth a lot more.

What happens when you neglect hard skills?

Well, first and most obviously, a tech practitioner who has insufficient technical skill to write even the simplest of code, probably won't last long. Even the devs who have climbed the ladder to Management and haven't done that much coding recently, know where to look for answers and what questions to ask.

Ultimately, being dependent on someone else, can also be a bad idea. Thus, being able to take care of smaller things yourself will be useful, and that requires a certain level of technical skill. A good analogy would be drivers knowing how to change car tyres by themselves instead of relying on a mechanic. Sure, they may not always (or even often) have to do it, but it's incredibly useful in the right situation.

Changing your own tyres.

And while it's true that employees with soft skills tend to get promoted to positions of leadership, and those in positions of leadership tend to get paid more, the question really is - how much can you get away with prioritizing soft skills ahead of your technical skills, and when does it become a problem? Hard skills are like the proverbial cake while soft skills are like the icing. A cake without icing is not at all appealing, but trust me when I say there's a lot more use for such a cake than for icing with no cake. Sure, employers can promote a dev with good soft skills, but how many of such people do these employers realistically need?

The danger of letting your tech cred rot, is that if and when you do get promoted due to being able to lead - and trust me, that happens more often than not - you may struggle to command the respect of the nerds tech professionals who now report to you. There's a stereotype that says that people who are useless technically but can speak well and project confidence, get the rub. It may or may not be true, but the last thing you want to do is fit that stereotype. You want to be known as the one who got promoted due to good soft skills, not due to being useless everywhere else.

The people I've reported to, fall on various positions on the spectrum of technical ability. The easiest to work with were those who knew absolutely nothing, and those who were better than me. Obviously, in the case of those who knew more than me, it was easy to just knuckle down and take instructions. In the case of those who knew nothing, they were largely content to get out of my way and let me do my thing.

The real pain points were with the ones who had just enough technical ability to make my working life miserable. They didn't have enough ability to help write the code, but they had enough knowledge to get in my way. It looks like the solution to what I just outlined, is not to neglect your technical skills. That's certainly one way. It can also be argued that the art of not getting in the way of those reporting to you while still getting them to take you seriously, is a soft skill.

Where I stand with Hard Skills

I occupy this uncomfortable grey area where I'm significantly more technically-qualified than the average Middle Manager, but far behind those hardcore hackers with the l33t skillz, yo.

Huge gaps.

Still, if I were to be rated, depending on which specific technical area you were speaking of, I suspect there would be plenty of comments ranging from "has glaring skill gaps", "sometimes really good and sometimes really poor" and "knows his shit". But that, I suspect, is also true of almost everyone who writes code for a living. Exceedingly rare is the complete developer. That ship has sailed.

Next

We examine soft skills.

Web Tutorial: Valentine's Day SVG Message

Welcome to 2025's annual Valentine's Day themed web tutorial! I'm a little late this year, but the path of true love runs deep, not smooth!

I want to go light, and to that end, we'll just do a bit of SVG animation. No style tags, no JavaScript. Sound good? No? Too bad sunshine, we're totally doing it.

Here's the beginning HTML. There's an SVG tag in the body tag. We'll be doing this with only inline styling, so specify the width and height, then use inline styling to specify the margin and display properties so that it's set in the middle of the screen.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Valentine's Day</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <svg width="800px" height="400px" style="display:block; margin:5% auto 0 auto">

    </svg>
  </body>
</html>

Add a defs tag in here, because we are going to be specifying some backgrounds.

<svg width="800px" height="400px" style="display:block; margin:5% auto 0 auto">
  <defs>
  
  </defs>  
</svg>

The first background we will specify has an id of textBackground and it's a linear gradient. The plan is to make it fade from deep pink to light pink, then deep pink again.

<svg width="800px" height="400px" style="display:block; margin:5% auto 0 auto">
  <defs>
    <linearGradient id="textBackground" x1="0" x2="0" y1="0" y2="1">
      <stop offset="0%" stop-color="rgb(255, 50, 50)" />
      <stop offset="40%" stop-color="rgb(255, 200, 200)" />
      <stop offset="60%" stop-color="rgb(255, 200, 200)" />
      <stop offset="100%" stop-color="rgb(255, 50, 50)" />
    </linearGradient>
  </defs>  
</svg>

And we are going to have text in the SVG, with this background. We want the letters I and U, huge and bold, right in the middle of the SVG.

<svg width="800px" height="400px" style="display:block; margin:5% auto 0 auto">
  <defs>
    <linearGradient id="textBackground" x1="0" x2="0" y1="0" y2="1">
      <stop offset="0%" stop-color="rgb(255, 50, 50)" />
      <stop offset="40%" stop-color="rgb(255, 200, 200)" />
      <stop offset="60%" stop-color="rgb(255, 200, 200)" />
      <stop offset="100%" stop-color="rgb(255, 50, 50)" />
    </linearGradient>
  </defs>  

  <text x="400px" y="300px" text-anchor="middle"
    font-size="300px" font-family="Verdana" font-weight="bold"
    fill="url(#textBackground)">I U
  </text>
</svg>

We see two nice big block letters!

Our goal is to have "I ♥ U" as the final image, so let's work backwards and create a pink heart. In this case, it's a path. I copied it from a previous repository to save time, and adjusted the position.

<svg width="800px" height="400px" style="display:block; margin:5% auto 0 auto">
  <defs>
    <linearGradient id="textBackground" x1="0" x2="0" y1="0" y2="1">
      <stop offset="0%" stop-color="rgb(255, 50, 50)" />
      <stop offset="40%" stop-color="rgb(255, 200, 200)" />
      <stop offset="60%" stop-color="rgb(255, 200, 200)" />
      <stop offset="100%" stop-color="rgb(255, 50, 50)" />
    </linearGradient>
  </defs>  

  <text x="400px" y="300px" text-anchor="middle"
    font-size="300px" font-family="Verdana" font-weight="bold"
    fill="url(#textBackground)">I U
  </text>

  <path d="M 350 150
    q -50 -60, -100 0
    q -50 80, 100 150
    q 150 -70, 100 -150
    q -50 -60, -100 0
    Z"
  >

  </path>
</svg>

We set the fill to a gradient background which we'll create shortly, The outline will be a translucent pink.

<path d="M 350 150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  q -50 80, 100 150
  q 150 -70, 100 -150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  Z"

  fill="url(#pinkheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 200, 200, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
>

</path>

Because we haven't created the background yet, you should only see the outline of the heart.

In the definitions, create the pinkheartBackground gradient. It will be radial, going from almost white, then pink, then deep pink.

<defs>
  <linearGradient id="textBackground" x1="0" x2="0" y1="0" y2="1">
    <stop offset="0%" stop-color="rgb(255, 50, 50)" />
    <stop offset="40%" stop-color="rgb(255, 200, 200)" />
    <stop offset="60%" stop-color="rgb(255, 200, 200)" />
    <stop offset="100%" stop-color="rgb(255, 50, 50)" />
  </linearGradient>

  <radialGradient id="pinkheartBackground" cx="10%" cy="10%" r="90%" fx="10%" fy="10%">
    <stop offset="0%" style="stop-color:rgb(255, 250, 250); stop-opacity:1" />
    <stop offset="20%" style="stop-color:rgb(255, 220, 220); stop-opacity:1" />
    <stop offset="90%" style="stop-color:rgb(220, 200, 200); stop-opacity:1" />
    <stop offset="100%" style="stop-color:rgb(200, 150, 150); stop-opacity:1" />
  </radialGradient>
</defs>  

There's a pink heart!

We're now going to cover the letters with red hearts. To that end, let's first define the gradient. It's basically a copy of pinkheartBackground but with redder hues.

<defs>
  <linearGradient id="textBackground" x1="0" x2="0" y1="0" y2="1">
    <stop offset="0%" stop-color="rgb(255, 50, 50)" />
    <stop offset="40%" stop-color="rgb(255, 200, 200)" />
    <stop offset="60%" stop-color="rgb(255, 200, 200)" />
    <stop offset="100%" stop-color="rgb(255, 50, 50)" />
  </linearGradient>

  <radialGradient id="pinkheartBackground" cx="10%" cy="10%" r="90%" fx="10%" fy="10%">
    <stop offset="0%" style="stop-color:rgb(255, 250, 250); stop-opacity:1" />
    <stop offset="20%" style="stop-color:rgb(255, 220, 220); stop-opacity:1" />
    <stop offset="90%" style="stop-color:rgb(220, 200, 200); stop-opacity:1" />
    <stop offset="100%" style="stop-color:rgb(200, 150, 150); stop-opacity:1" />
  </radialGradient>

  <radialGradient id="redheartBackground" cx="10%" cy="10%" r="90%" fx="10%" fy="10%">
    <stop offset="0%" style="stop-color:rgb(255, 150, 150); stop-opacity:1" />
    <stop offset="20%" style="stop-color:rgb(255, 100, 100); stop-opacity:1" />
    <stop offset="90%" style="stop-color:rgb(220, 0, 0); stop-opacity:1" />
    <stop offset="100%" style="stop-color:rgb(200, 0, 0); stop-opacity:1" />
  </radialGradient>
</defs>  

Now let's create one heart. It's a copy of the pink heart, but using redheartBackground as the fill, and a red outline.

<text x="400px" y="300px" text-anchor="middle"
  font-size="300px" font-family="Verdana" font-weight="bold"
  fill="url(#textBackground)">I U
</text>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
>

</path>

<path d="M 350 150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  q -50 80, 100 150
  q 150 -70, 100 -150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  Z"

  fill="url(#pinkheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 200, 200, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
>

</path>

But you won't see much, because that red heart will be directly behind the pink heart. Let's apply a bit of translation and rotation to it. We won't scale this one, but let's include it in there, anyway. transform-origin should be set to the middle of the heart.

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(100, -50) rotate(-30) scale(1, 1)"
>

</path>

Now you can see a bit of it peeking out!

Now we are going to place differently translated, rotated and scaled red hearts in the SVG. You don't have to do it exactly how I did, I just did these at random.

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(100, -50) rotate(-30) scale(1, 1)"
>

</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(200, 0) rotate(90) scale(0.8, 0.8)"
>

</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(200, 50) rotate(-20) scale(1, 1)"
>

</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(0, 50) rotate(-90) scale(0.8, 0.8)"
>

</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(-150, -100) rotate(-20) scale(1, 1)"
>

</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(-150, 100) rotate(50) scale(0.8, 0.8)"
>

</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(-50, -50) rotate(-50) scale(1, 1)"
>

</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(50, -150) rotate(-20) scale(0.5, 0.5)"
>

</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(0, -100) rotate(-80) scale(0.5, 0.5)"
>

</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(-250, 150) rotate(100) scale(0.5, 0.5)"
>

</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(-50, 50) rotate(-60) scale(0.5, 0.5)"
>

</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(150, 50) rotate(80) scale(0.5, 0.5)"
>

</path>

<path d="M 350 150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  q -50 80, 100 150
  q 150 -70, 100 -150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  Z"

  fill="url(#pinkheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 200, 200, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(0, 0) scale(1, 1)"
>

</path>

Yep, all these hearts.

Now on to animation!

We've set the stage. We want the pink heart to look like it fell right onto the heap of red hearts. To do that, we first scale the pink heart upwards, i.e, increase its size.

<path d="M 350 150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  q -50 80, 100 150
  q 150 -70, 100 -150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  Z"

  fill="url(#pinkheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 200, 200, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(0, 0) scale(1.5, 1.5)"
>

See what we did to the pink heart?

Now, we are going to simulate a fall "towards" the red hearts. TO that end, we will reduce the size of the pink heart in animation. To that end we will add the animateTransform tag. What we are going to alter is the transform attribute, thus transform will be the value of attributeName. We want to alter the scale, so that's the value of type. from and to attributes are straightforward. The original values are 1.5, and we want to scale it down to 0.5.

<path d="M 350 150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  q -50 80, 100 150
  q 150 -70, 100 -150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  Z"

  fill="url(#pinkheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 200, 200, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(0, 0) scale(1.5, 1.5)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="1.5 1.5"
    to="0.5 0.5"
  />
</path>

Then we further add details. begin will be set to 0 seconds so that the animation fires off as soon as the SVG loads. dur is how long the animation lasts, and I specified 1.5 seconds. We set repeatCount to 1, which means it only happens once.

<animateTransform
  attributeName="transform"
  type="scale"
  from="1.5 1.5"
  to="0.5 0.5"
  begin="0s"
  fill="freeze"
  dur="1.5s"
  repeatCount="1"
/>

Refresh. Your pink heart should appear large, then grow smaller as it "falls".

Here, I've added some more scaling animations to reflect the pink heart shaking as it "hits" the red hearts and stops. You notice that the last one has an id, finalPinkHeartScale. This is a bad naming convention because this is far from "final", but in any case, we need this one to have an id because we are going to be taking reference from it.

<path d="M 350 150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  q -50 80, 100 150
  q 150 -70, 100 -150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  Z"

  fill="url(#pinkheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 200, 200, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(0, 0) scale(1.5, 1.5)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="1.5 1.5"
    to="0.5 0.5"
    begin="0s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="1.5s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.5 0.5"
    to="0.6 0.6"
    begin="1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    id="finalPinkHeartScale"
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.6 0.6"
    to="0.5 0.5"
    begin="1.7s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />
</path>

Time to animate the red hearts. We want each red heart to look like the pink heart is "absorbing" it. So we should have it move back towards the center of the pink heart and shrink till nothing while doing that. Let's use the first red heart as an example. Add an animation. Again attributeName is transform, type is translate, and we take reference from the path tag's transform attribute's translate directive. From that value to 0, which is, not-so-coincidentally, where the pink heart is.

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(100, -50) rotate(-30) scale(1, 1)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="translate" from="100 -50" to="0 0"
  />    
</path>

We need to make it start half a second after finalPinkHeartScale ends. I set this animation's duration at 1 second. We don't want this to repeat, so set repeatCount to 1.

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(100, -50) rotate(-30) scale(1, 1)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="translate" from="100 -50" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1"
  />    
</path>

Here's a second animation. This one makes the red heart shrink to 0. Again, the from attribute should take reference from the path tag's transform attribute's scale directive. We need to add the additive attribute and set it to sum. This is so that it doesn't mess up the first animation.

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(100, -50) rotate(-30) scale(1, 1)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="translate" from="100 -50" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="scale" from="1 1" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  
</path>

We add a third animation to "reset" rotation to 0. As before, the additive attribute is sum.

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(100, -50) rotate(-30) scale(1, 1)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="translate" from="100 -50" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="scale" from="1 1" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="rotate" from="-30" to="0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  
</path>

Now do this for all red hearts! I varied the begin and dur attributes for all of them.

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(100, -50) rotate(-30) scale(1, 1)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="translate" from="100 -50" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="scale" from="1 1" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="rotate" from="-30" to="0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  
</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(200, 0) rotate(90) scale(0.8, 0.8)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="translate" from="200 0" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1s" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="scale" from="0.8 0.8" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1s" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="rotate" from="90" to="0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1s" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  
</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(200, 50) rotate(-20) scale(1, 1)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="translate" from="200 50" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="scale" from="1 1" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="rotate" from="-20" to="0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  
</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(0, 50) rotate(-90) scale(0.8, 0.8)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="translate" from="0 50" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1s" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="scale" from="0.8 0.8" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1s" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="rotate" from="-90" to="0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1s" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  
</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(-150, -100) rotate(-20) scale(1, 1)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="translate" from="-150 -100" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1s" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="scale" from="1 1" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1s" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="rotate" from="-20" to="0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1s" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  
</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(-150, 100) rotate(50) scale(0.8, 0.8)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="translate" from="-150 100" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="scale" from="0.8 0.8" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="rotate" from="50" to="0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  
</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(-50, -50) rotate(-50) scale(1, 1)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="translate" from="-50 -50" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="scale" from="1 1" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="rotate" from="-50" to="0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  
</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(50, -150) rotate(-20) scale(0.5, 0.5)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="translate" from="50 -150" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="scale" from="0.5 0.5" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="rotate" from="-20" to="0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  
</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(0, -100) rotate(-80) scale(0.5, 0.5)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="translate" from="0 -100" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="scale" from="0.5 0.5" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="rotate" from="-80" to="0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  
</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(-250, 150) rotate(100) scale(0.5, 0.5)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="translate" from="-250 150" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="scale" from="0.5 0.5" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="rotate" from="100" to="0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end" fill="freeze" dur="1s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  
</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(-50, 50) rotate(-60) scale(0.5, 0.5)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="translate" from="-50 50" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="scale" from="0.5 0.5" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="rotate" from="-60" to="0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  
</path>

<path d="M 350 150 q -50 -60, -100 0 q -50 80, 100 150 q 150 -70, 100 -150 q -50 -60, -100 0 Z"
  fill="url(#redheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(150, 50) rotate(80) scale(0.5, 0.5)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="translate" from="150 50" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="scale" from="0.5 0.5" to="0 0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform" type="rotate" from="80" to="0"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end" fill="freeze" dur="0.5s" repeatCount="1" additive="sum"
  />  
</path>

See all these hearts starting to move...

...and some of them are still staying in place...

...but eventually they all get "absorbed".

This does not look all that realistic. The pink heart should actually get bigger the more red hearts it "absorbs". So add another animation to increase the size of the pink heart, half a second after finalPinkHeartScale ends, to coincide with some of the "absorbings".

<path d="M 350 150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  q -50 80, 100 150
  q 150 -70, 100 -150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  Z"

  fill="url(#pinkheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 200, 200, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(0, 0) scale(1.5, 1.5)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="1.5 1.5"
    to="0.5 0.5"
    begin="0s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="1.5s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.5 0.5"
    to="0.6 0.6"
    begin="1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    id="finalPinkHeartScale"
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.6 0.6"
    to="0.5 0.5"
    begin="1.7s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.4 0.4"
    to="0.7 0.7"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />
</path>

A little more...

<path d="M 350 150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  q -50 80, 100 150
  q 150 -70, 100 -150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  Z"

  fill="url(#pinkheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 200, 200, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(0, 0) scale(1.5, 1.5)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="1.5 1.5"
    to="0.5 0.5"
    begin="0s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="1.5s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.5 0.5"
    to="0.6 0.6"
    begin="1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    id="finalPinkHeartScale"
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.6 0.6"
    to="0.5 0.5"
    begin="1.7s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.4 0.4"
    to="0.7 0.7"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.5 0.5"
    to="0.9 0.9"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />
</path>

...and some more.

<path d="M 350 150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  q -50 80, 100 150
  q 150 -70, 100 -150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  Z"

  fill="url(#pinkheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 200, 200, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(0, 0) scale(1.5, 1.5)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="1.5 1.5"
    to="0.5 0.5"
    begin="0s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="1.5s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.5 0.5"
    to="0.6 0.6"
    begin="1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    id="finalPinkHeartScale"
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.6 0.6"
    to="0.5 0.5"
    begin="1.7s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.4 0.4"
    to="0.7 0.7"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.5 0.5"
    to="0.9 0.9"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

 <animateTransform 

    attributeName="transform"

    type="scale"

    from="0.7 0.7"

    to="1 1"

    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1.5s"

    fill="freeze"

    dur="0.2s"

    repeatCount="1"

 />

</path>

Finally, I have an animation applied on the stroke-width attribute that will carry on indefinitely once the pink heart has grown to its full size.

<path d="M 350 150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  q -50 80, 100 150
  q 150 -70, 100 -150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  Z"

  fill="url(#pinkheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 200, 200, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(0, 0) scale(1.5, 1.5)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="1.5 1.5"
    to="0.5 0.5"
    begin="0s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="1.5s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.5 0.5"
    to="0.6 0.6"
    begin="1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    id="finalPinkHeartScale"
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.6 0.6"
    to="0.5 0.5"
    begin="1.7s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.4 0.4"
    to="0.7 0.7"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.5 0.5"
    to="0.9 0.9"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.7 0.7"
    to="1 1"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animate
    attributeName="stroke-width"
    values="10px; 50px; 10px"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.5s"
    repeatCount="indefinite"
  />
</path>

Tell me this ain't awesome.

Final touches...

This is entirely superfluous, but still fun to do. Add two circles to the SVG. Both are a translucent deep pink, though the second one is more translucent. You won't see anything since both have r attributes set to 0.

<path d="M 350 150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  q -50 80, 100 150
  q 150 -70, 100 -150
  q -50 -60, -100 0
  Z"

  fill="url(#pinkheartBackground)" stroke="rgba(255, 200, 200, 0.2)" stroke-width="10px"
  transform-origin="50% 50%" transform="translate(0, 0) scale(1.5, 1.5)"
>
  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="1.5 1.5"
    to="0.5 0.5"
    begin="0s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="1.5s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.5 0.5"
    to="0.6 0.6"
    begin="1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    id="finalPinkHeartScale"
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.6 0.6"
    to="0.5 0.5"
    begin="1.7s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.4 0.4"
    to="0.7 0.7"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+0.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.5 0.5"
    to="0.9 0.9"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animateTransform
    attributeName="transform"
    type="scale"
    from="0.7 0.7"
    to="1 1"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.2s"
    repeatCount="1"
  />

  <animate
    attributeName="stroke-width"
    values="10px; 50px; 10px"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.5s"
    repeatCount="indefinite"
  />
</path>

<circle r="0" fill="rgba(200, 150, 150, 0.8)">

</circle>

<circle r="0" fill="rgba(200, 150, 150, 0.5)">

</circle>

We want each circle to traverse the perimeter of the pink heart. So we'll input the path for the pink heart into an animateMotion animation. We want this to begin only after finalPinkHeartScale. The duration is set to 5 seconds and we set this to animate forever.

<circle r="0" fill="rgba(200, 150, 150, 0.8)">
  <animateMotion
    path="M 350 150
    q -50 -60, -100 0
    q -50 80, 100 150
    q 150 -70, 100 -150
    q -50 -60, -100 0
    Z"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="5s"
    repeatCount="indefinite"
  />
</circle>

<circle r="0" fill="rgba(200, 150, 150, 0.5)">

</circle>

And here's another animation, this one animating the r attribute from 5 to 10 pixels. This animation is faster and will also repeat forever.

<circle r="0" fill="rgba(200, 150, 150, 0.8)">
  <animateMotion
    path="M 350 150
    q -50 -60, -100 0
    q -50 80, 100 150
    q 150 -70, 100 -150
    q -50 -60, -100 0
    Z"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="5s"
    repeatCount="indefinite"
  />
  
  <animate
    attributeName="r"
    values="5px; 10px; 5px"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.5s"
    repeatCount="indefinite"
  />
</circle>

<circle r="0" fill="rgba(200, 150, 150, 0.5)">

</circle>

We'll do the same for the second circle, but with slightly different animaton values for contrast.

<circle r="0" fill="rgba(200, 150, 150, 0.8)">
  <animateMotion
    path="M 350 150
    q -50 -60, -100 0
    q -50 80, 100 150
    q 150 -70, 100 -150
    q -50 -60, -100 0
    Z"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="5s"
    repeatCount="indefinite"
  />
  
  <animate
    attributeName="r"
    values="5px; 10px; 5px"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.5s"
    repeatCount="indefinite"
  />
</circle>

<circle r="0" fill="rgba(200, 150, 150, 0.5)">
  <animateMotion
    path="M 350 150
    q -50 -60, -100 0
    q -50 80, 100 150
    q 150 -70, 100 -150
    q -50 -60, -100 0
    Z"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="3s"
    repeatCount="indefinite"
  />
  
  <animate
    attributeName="r"
    values="3px; 10px; 3px"
    begin="finalPinkHeartScale.end+1.5s"
    fill="freeze"
    dur="0.5s"
    repeatCount="indefinite"
  />
</circle>

And there you have the two translucent deep pink circles traversing the perimeter of the pink heart.

Well, it's been a pleasure!

SVG animations can be a lot of fun, especially when we're just doing silly inconsequential stuff like that. Have a nice, romantic week!

Don't U just ♥ SVG?
T____T