desperate for change

I like reading Jeff Atwood’s Coding Horror. He writes about issues and ideas that are about the similar level as Mythical Man Month: programmer and team productivity, software processes, tools, industry trends, etc. You don’t have to be a down-in-the-trenches programmer to appreciate these types of discussions.

A recent article on Coding Horror struck a nerve with the readers. In The Two Types of Programmers, Jeff talks about the difference between the 80% and the 20% programmers in the field. The fact of the matter is, any profession or field will have its own kind of divide. Perhaps this is more so in the software world than other professions, because “writing for a software” is barely a profession depending on where you go. There is not a specific certified training program or certification tests that is used to judge the level of skill of a programmer.

Did the article struck a nerve for me? Perhaps yes, but not in the mouth-frothing rabid commentary that he got for his article (to which he came back with a crowd-calming response). I have been wondering about my passion for doing software for a living as of late. I think that we all have our ups and downs with life: in my case, I think my “bumming around” was really a chance for me to really ask myself what I like to do for fun. While putting together alfredpang.com is not exactly the same level of difficulty as actually writing software, there is a similar element of making public, my own personal work. In other words, expressing myself is fun for me.

More recently I realized (probably because of something else I read), that doing a startup is just another form of personal expression, except that the tools are business plans, venture capital and management skills. Perhaps that is why my fascination for all things startup; just can’t get enough of that startup Kool-Aid. (I’ll have to write about ycombinator one of these days.)

Lately, I feel like I am starting to get a bit more clear about what I am supposed to be doing. Or to be more precise: what I want to be doing. It is a good thing.

Check out this quote from my astrological “personal guide to the future”:

Because it isn’t easy for Virgos to relax, you need plenty of hobbies and pastimes to steer you in that direction.

This commentary is totally spot-on for me. I think that this is even more so these days in the working world than even when I was still in school. Or perhaps it seems that way because I still need to “gear-down” from working as hard as I did when I was in school.

I think that I have trouble managing my downtime. In fact, I don’t let myself have any downtime: any spare time goes to reading, studying, research, designing, planning, and scheming. The fact is, years of doing this has caught up to me, so much that lifting a pencil is too much mental exercise. My head hurts from so much thinking.

There was a period of a few weeks earlier this year when I was actually scheduling in some “fun” hours: it was when I was practicing for the Gala Ball. Yes, if I don’t schedule anything, I automatically default to my “usual.”

Okay now – just gotta find a few more fun things to put into the after-five schedule.

In a previous post, I theorized that one path to entrepreneurial success is going with the “dull, boring but useful.” (Okay, you might have your own exciting, sexy and useless thing that make money too, but we’ll save that for another post.)

I would like to add one more qualifier to “dull, boring, useful”: valuable. Something people would pay money for. Ultimately, the world rewards us for adding value to people’s lives. The litmus test for the amount of value we are adding, is precisely how much money people are willing to pay for your product or service.

Even in the world of blogging for Adsense dollars, you know you are adding value when you can confidently say: “I know peeps who would be willing to pay money to advertise on my blog.” Not exactly the easiest way to make a buck, but it has been analyzed to pieces. The point is, even supposedly free enterprises could have some monetary input.

I recently came across this trip report about a college investment club’s visit to Omaha to see Warren Buffett.

There are a lot of take away messages about investing and about life. I’ve read about Warren Buffett in other articles and books but those often focus on his investment success and his friendship with Bill Gates.

One message that the students came with struck me: “Stay within your circle of competence.”

It is important to recognize your strengths and weaknesses. In the game of life, you want to be in areas where you have an advantage. When you are in an area of weakness, ask questions and get help.

In our modern society, we value highly professionals with specialized skills: dentists, lawyers, software programmers, plumbers, auto mechanics, etc. We all have our designated roles to play in this world.

Do you have an arena where you can step into, where you know you can beat everyone else? That’s where you need to be.