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In my last post, I grumped a bit about what happened to the startup I joined years ago. Stock's dead, people gone. At least it's not the other way round. Okay. What next?
Software, the only thing I'm trained for, is just not going to create any breakthroughs any time soon. (Frankly, software sucks. People generally agree that the vast majority of software is bloated, buggy, unreliable, hard to use, etc etc. I have my own theories on why this is the case.) So anyhow. The paradigm shifts have shifted. We've come up with some good concepts over the history of computers. Operating systems, compilers, databases, computer games, graphical user interfaces, network protocols... the invention of each of these things has significantly changed the way computers are used. Java could have been, but wasn't. What's the next fundamental change coming from software? I don't see a lot.
If I want to do something interesting, new, different... if I want to help create something that will significantly help someone... if I want to make someone's job significantly easier or make it possible to do something a person basically couldn't do before, then I shouldn't be in software.
(Well, not completely true. There are still some jobs left undone in that arena.)
What, then? Where should I be?
I have the advantage of intelligence and willingness to learn. I have the disadvantage of laziness, though I have the occasional cleverness to turn laziness into a plus. I am a logical thinker saddled with ethics and with a caring nature. Where should I be?
Software, the only thing I'm trained for, is just not going to create any breakthroughs any time soon. (Frankly, software sucks. People generally agree that the vast majority of software is bloated, buggy, unreliable, hard to use, etc etc. I have my own theories on why this is the case.) So anyhow. The paradigm shifts have shifted. We've come up with some good concepts over the history of computers. Operating systems, compilers, databases, computer games, graphical user interfaces, network protocols... the invention of each of these things has significantly changed the way computers are used. Java could have been, but wasn't. What's the next fundamental change coming from software? I don't see a lot.
If I want to do something interesting, new, different... if I want to help create something that will significantly help someone... if I want to make someone's job significantly easier or make it possible to do something a person basically couldn't do before, then I shouldn't be in software.
(Well, not completely true. There are still some jobs left undone in that arena.)
What, then? Where should I be?
I have the advantage of intelligence and willingness to learn. I have the disadvantage of laziness, though I have the occasional cleverness to turn laziness into a plus. I am a logical thinker saddled with ethics and with a caring nature. Where should I be?
