Our expanding digital footprints are
touching the world we live in!
Bill Gates famously said, “Be nice to
nerds, chances are you will end up working for one!” There is a good chance he
is right! Nevertheless, I am yet to be convinced we don’t all ultimately work
for hedge fund managers and their clients, where we worry more about the next
quarterly financial return then on our impact in the marketplace along with its
effect on all our shareholders, our customers and our wider community!! With
such tidal forces at play, it’s easy to see why learnt helplessness has eaten
away at our souls and a tide of apathy gravitates us away from balance to the
most powerful force in our business stratosphere.
All that said, we are not excused from
responsibility when it comes to doing the right thing and to do this, we need
to once again, find our centre of balance and see the longer-term impact of our
actions over a wider field of vision before we proceed.
I have being collaborating with a friend on
blogging and his shared insights on his professional journey, which has gotten
me thinking about my own journey and how doing the right thing leads to new
roads not truly travelled before. It also brings me to my future yet to be
discovered with all it’s adventure, perils and riches cast together in a scary
montage of what could be! We all know the future is not cast in absolute stone,
but chiseled out by the characters of those in the present that shape tomorrow
with every thoughtful decision made. My own reflection on life has led to two
realisations; firstly I want to be one of those chiseling characters mentioned
above and secondly, I see software as a vehicle to a sustainable future for us
all ergo I want to embrace it fully on my journey through life. As software is eating the world and thus is
my hungry friend, I head towards it as a career change attracted by the
following traits of the software industry:
Culture,
culture, culture!!! There is no substitute for a
creative, engaging and collaborative giver culture where you can create and
strive for excellence with those of like mind (and belief) around you. They say
‘when you surround yourself with like-minded people, you can do great things’.
This realisation in software culture is very practical noting the success of a
software company is not about the transaction, it’s not about the guy at the
top, it’s about the people who make up company as it’s their creation and
commitment, which sparks excellence from inception to market to payment for
goods and services rendered. In
addition, it’s also about the continued inputs of those same people, who maintain
the code and the business, keeping it current, relevant and ultimately
profitable. This recognised premise sees
a culture that allows giver types to collaborate, share and grow together in a
family of like minded professionals who may not always see eye to eye but
conduct constructive dissent as part of the creative process keeping everybody
sharp and lean in their thinking. In thinking about this, I realised, my career
move is less about the destination and more about where I belong!
Excellence
as a virtue. In software, the price for half doing
something is greater then not doing it at all, so striving for structured
excellence in what you do whilst retaining the creative spark is an excellence
one can have and in software, should aspire to. Unfortunately, being
technically good in other industries can lead to culture and partisan clashes,
which destroys value in what a technically skilled professional can bring. Once
again, it’s about knowing who we are and where we belong.
The
journey is better then the destination! I can’t
remember having so much fun learning at a breakneck pace or having so many
technically demanding projects where I learn more then I deliver in the end
result. The lesson for me lies in the wealth of understanding gained from each
project I engage in and the quality of the end project is only a reflection of
accumulated understanding to that point! Where else does creativity, life and
technical understanding merge in such synergy to give birth to a new ‘tool’ in
the world, which is forged by thought rather then steel?
Legacy
lies in what you leave behind. I can’t think of a
more-faster growing societal element in humanity today then software. The fact that it can allow us to do more with
less and often with better results is leaving me in no doubt that if I want to
be that guy who makes a difference in this world, then software will be my
vehicle in which I can leave behind a contribution to mankind’s continuing journey.
This self-reflection has given me a sense
of realisation of my generation whom like those gone before and to come, I can now
say “it’s our time!” The direction both good and bad for our kind is ultimately
driven by our intent, wisdom and courage we show in our decision’s today, which
casts the environmental inheritance for tomorrow ‘come with what, may!’ I thus
submit; with our good intent the future can only look brighter for our fellow
man and with software on our side, our chances are good indeed!
Sources/Credits:
Pics;
Credits;
“Public Domain”
