What color IS my parachute?

[cjsmith]

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?

Comments

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

There are some interesting things like creating a programing language which can be done. The persons who created python and tcl/tk did some pretty interesting things.

Perhaps a project like that might be more your style.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... Are you young enough to apply for the astronaut program? In and of itself, it wouldn't fulfill all your goals, but being an astronaut would give you tremendous cachet and the ability to pretty much write your own ticket after you'd been in the program for 4 or 5 years.

If that wouldn't do it for you, how about something like Industrial Engineering, where you study processes and find ways to make them better? Or maybe you could do the Kelly McGillis (really Catherine McGrady) thing from Top Gun and go teach the hotshots how to fly the edge of the envelope?

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Hugs to you, my friend.

And is it just me, or did you too think that you'd have all this "what am I gonna be when I grow up" stuff figured out by now? Here I am, 30 years old, still figuring out on a daily basis what I should be doing with my life.

Of course, you have to admit, that makes things a lot less boring than I thought adulthood would be ...

[oddhack.livejournal.com]

Nanotechnology. Though of course most of it will be used for mindless consumer products.

[rosefox]

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?

In politics. Please.