I’ve recently found that writing helps me to organize my thoughts on various topics of current interest to me. I tend to be a ruminator, getting lost in my head and not really very good at translating my mental activity into something tangible. I figure having a blog is something totally in my control which I can use as a forcing function to generate output on a regular basis. This blog is an exercise primarily for me. If others read and like what I wrote, that’s a bonus.
I’m a software developer and my entry into the profession was very atypical. I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Religion because at the time I was an undergraduate, I was fully set on being a rockstar. I couldn’t have cared less about school and so I took classes that were applicable to my personal interests at the time and which I felt could help me define my psychology as I transitioned into adulthood.
By the mid-90s, my band had broken up. I had been around computers since I was very young, thanks to my grandfather, so I already knew the basics of protocols building toward what we know today under the collective term “the internet” – Usenet, WWW, Gopher, Finger, etc. I had a real interest to learn in depth how this all worked and so I took a two week “Learn to Webmaster” vocational course. From there I got an entry level job doing help desk support for an ISP in Alpharetta, GA.
I KNEW I didn’t want to do that forever so when an entry level programming opportunity was announced within the company to work on an internal accounting system, I jumped on it. I was getting paid less than $20K/year but I got exposed to a bunch of real-world technology – Cold Fusion, Windows NT 4.0 Administration, Informix, C on Unix as well as bash scripting.
The most amazing thing about this first job was that one day, I had an epiphany – I was really good at this! Here was something I seemed to have an affinity for and could possibly dedicate my life toward. It was the first time I’d had an experience like that and I’ve never looked back since.
At this point I’ve worked in technology for about thirty years and the field has changed quite a lot. In my opinion, it’s neither as fun nor as optimistic as it was when I started. I imagine some of what I write will offer my perspective on where the industry is heading, but I also plan to write about other topics as I work through my own personal development – topics like self-esteem, career satisfaction, history, philosophy and ethics.
I owe a tremendous debt to Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism for helping me over the years to become a rational, productive individual. My writings will be heavily informed by Objectivism and my attempt to better understand and integrate the philosophy in my own life.
Absolutely NONE of the content on this blog will be generated with the use of AI.