12.11.06
Feeling Hopeful
Hey from lunch. Every year around this time I blast out some long, sappy, inspirational entry about how wonderful it is that we’re reaching the end of another year, and that this is a time for reflection and true appreciation of what we have. This isn’t that entry. (Not yet, anyway. It’s coming, don’t you worry, but not today.) Instead, I wanted to point out this Slashdot story which, surprisingly, has had the exact opposite effect of pretty much every other Slashdot story I’ve read in the last few months. I’m not purple with rage, I’m not laughing at idiocy, and I’m certainly not indignant at being misrepresented or condescended to. I’m actually, genuinely proud of the submitter.
The basic gist of the story is that the submitter, literally fresh from a CS degree, has no idea what projects he’d like to tackle; and furthermore, has no idea of where to even start. Believe me, I’ve been there. Come to think of it, with the Circle project, I’m still there (kinda– I actually didn’t get any work done on that over the weekend, but I’m planning on taking the next step tonight). My best advice (and the way I’ve always handled it) is to simply dive into the idea, take it one step at a time, break it into smaller, more manageable chunks, and then just do it.
The pride comes from the fact that the submitter has the humility to say, “Wow, I’m completely lost. However, I have a desire to learn and to improve my own processes and my own practices.” If more people in tech– heck, more people in the world– would just do that, then I’d feel a LOT better about the future.
Later, folks.