Since this is a new site, I thought I would add some more context about being a human and the kind of human I am.
Complete, not finished
One of the most inspirational talks I’ve attended was at a Write the Docs conference. It was about being complete but not finished, and presented in the context of releasing a large or overwhelming body of work. How, if you wait to release your project when you feel it is finished, well, you would never go to production because there’s always something more to do.
I LOVE THIS.
I encourage you to watch the talk. It starts with the furniture brand Globe-Wernicke, who used “Always Complete, But Never Finished” as their motto. Their modular bookcases started with one, and could be added to until they grew as big as you wanted.
I see humans this way. (I love a metaphor.)
Of course, my brain latched onto this idea and expanded it to everything. You, human, are complete but not finished. Every day you push yourself to production—-deployed into the world, unfinished—-with so much potential for improvement, update, and integration. It doesn’t mean you should give up or not go out there.
Also, everyone else is in the same non-final state! Everyone is working on themselves. We are all continuously learning, patching, and debugging. It’s important to realize while you’re struggling to keep up with the newest releases, security flaws, and the-next-big-thing, so is everyone else.
I choose to see the world through this lens because otherwise I become depressed. I don’t believe this means I’m overly idealistic or naïve. (Though, I could be wrong.) I still have days where I hate everything and become angry with the world. On those days, I force myself to think about the above and try to remember to not to become what I hate.
Background
About me professionally. I started college in physics. I switched to computer science because I wanted a good job and all my friends were doing it. Seriously.
But really, I love the magic of it. (I’ll write another post about that.)
I tried grad school. Went to UDel for about a month and decided it wasn’t for me. Instead, I became a full-stack Java developer. Did that for almost ten years. I did front-end, middleware, and database design. I even did some systems and DevOps. The web developer handled the website from database to application-server to client.
Being on call meant possibly having to go to the on site server room. I love telling these stories to people who’ve only worked in the cloud because Halon fire suppression systems still give me nightmares.
Then I took time away and had the privilege of becoming a knitwear designer. I designed patterns for major magazines and publications, wrote articles, and wrote two books. I taught at conferences, seminars, book signings, all that. Because I can’t do anything halfway, I started a business.
Aside 1: I see knitwear design as software for sweaters (or any other knitted item). A pattern is an algorithm and a stitch pattern is an invocable function. It makes sense in my brain in the same way writing a program does. Knitting patterns present a complex, complicated challenge. People don’t scale in the same way in the same places for each size. (I should write a separate post about this.)
Aside 2: Writing the pattern is highly technical and is a specialized form of technical writing. There is a very specific language and format. (Oh! Another good post idea.)
The business grew into a wholesale company. I ended up distributing patterns for other designers, started my own yarn line, I became an industry leader, and sat on the board of the industry’s leading association.
For personal reasons, I came back to tech. I found after almost ten years, as tech does, everything had changed. To get back into web development, I thought I would need to either go back to school or maybe attend a bootcamp.
Luckily, I stumbled into technical writing. I took a job writing tutorials for anything you could do on Linux. From basic commands to running a Kubernetes cluster, if it could be done on the Linux platform, I learned to do it and taught others through documentation. We also developed and maintained our own site, wrote the API documentation, and created marketing assets.
I love documentation. Everyone needs and appreciates good docs. Many complain when docs are bad, however, few enjoy contributing to make them better.
I’m passionate about empowerment through documentation and believe the product is docs. Without good documentation, you lose customers. Documentation is not only a marketing tool for building trust and winning sales, it also ensures loyalty, bringing clients back again and again.
The future
Am I still a software engineer? Yes.
I went back to programming at my last job. I love solving problems. I still get a thrill when seeing my code do the thing. However, I don’t think I’m as passionate about it as some people are. And that’s okay. (Well, I think it’s okay.)
Some of my colleagues will dig deep into the nuances of React and I think that’s amazing. I love that for them. I’m more interested in optimizing the team or helping the group work better together. And maybe that comes back to docs; I want to help developers, make their jobs easier, make the experience better.
I believe programming should be fun, even at work. Because we all want that thrill. That’s why we do the thing.
Perhaps that makes me a better coach or manager or PM or documentarian. I’m open to any of these roles. I don’t like to say I’m X or Y or Z. And perhaps that contributed to my difficulty finding a job.
I’m unfinished. Is that honesty always appreciated? Probably not, but I don’t like lying. Not to myself and not to others. It’s hard to sit in an interview and say with confidence, I’m the best programmer/writer/coach you’ll find for this job.
What I can say: I’m passionate about everything I do. I enjoy programming, the magic, the problem solving. However, I love supporting programmers, whether that means documentation or coaching. I work well with others because I care about them as people. I put 100% of myself into work (even if that’s not exactly healthy) because I don’t know how to turn off my brain. I work on solutions when I’m in the shower, taking the dog for a walk, fixing dinner, driving to the store, etc. I strive hard to improve because I know I’m not the best and will seek feedback. I then try to pass on my knowledge because when everyone grows, it can only help the team and the organization.
Random thought
We’re expected to know our purpose and direction upon leaving school, or even before. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Are you that now?
I wanted to be a pediatrician.