Look at other doors

Friday and Saturday were spent binge watching conferences and interviews.

I was watching a video made in the 80s of bell labs explaining the power of Unix. There was a scene where, writing in the terminal, a famous computer scientist entered a command and zoom! It made me jump. I thought the screen was burning up with a laser. As the graph formed it strangely faded quickly. My poor geek heart couldn't take much more. This whole video had so much history!

These legends are the people whom I am learning from through observation. Their words, ideas, thought processes and the way they talk about life itself gives me brilliant clues. How do they think? How do they feel?

So much of the powerful coding and specific kinds of problem solving has been lost to convenience and provided abstraction layers. Not many developers need to get into the gritty mindset anymore. Not that I blame the industry. I just find the methods they use back then, their approach in the 1960s-1990s, helpful.

Software development is a very beautiful duality. Code deals with both hardware representation and how the user thinks. Weaving the two together gives every coder a sense of magic. I have made the computer do this. How is this possible? I created this task and implementing it off the majesty of butterfly wings.

I am half joking right now.

Coding is indeed poetry. Our minds are the limitations. You can be very literal, serious and efficient, or you can be artistic and efficient or not or neither. You have the complete freedom to think how you think, and enter a dream with the machine. How the software is made depends on your mindset and skill.

The reality of encoding symbols does not take away from good engineering practice, or how important computer science theory is. Laws are laws. And they will work no matter what we do, but its fun to apply those laws in amazing and creative ways. They do make a difference.

Bjarne Stroustrup said in one conference that I watched, that software is a great way to "[stick] your nose into interesting projects." His point was that any field has software. He gave one specific example about theoretical physicist and high energy physics. That creating software for that field may be easier to get into the door than getting an education for the official position.

The video is from Youtube.

"Bjarne Stroustrup - The Essence of C++" by "The University of Edinburgh" channel.

At 21, I hit a cross roads. I really wanted to be a neurologist. I wanted to study and help people through neurology. I wanted to be at the cutting edge of the research. Then I looked at my life, the money, the time and all other factors. It wasn't for me. I loved the subject, but I did not have what I needed to get there. I was just beginning to suspect about my own constraints in life, and I needed to be real with myself.

Then, I got some closure for the challenges in my life, and including all the difficulties that were part of my life and past. I had to swallow a lot of bitter pills to work out obstacles. Some of the things I needed to accept in order to be in harmony with myself did not prop up my morale, and in order to get across bridges and overcome steep odds, I needed to go through a lot of intense pain to rework my neurological pathways. It was either give up or move forward. I put in the work and the labor no matter how discouraging the path looked.

I love writing. I am zealous about innovation. I love helping people. Software development is the bridge. The third door when the others closed.

Open source software is a huge opportunity. Knowledge in most fields are widely accessible. And software development is my forte. My interest. My developing skill. Where my talent is finally taking shape. Not because of my own lacking ability, but with the health problems that created emotional and mental struggle that I must overcome first. This is totally doable. I am working hard, and I feel real with myself. Its a beautiful feeling to hold and realize through that struggle. To find the blessings come into your life removing obstacles that felt like immovable titans. I held on. I protected and nourished my desire. To keep the flame alive.

Now I am moving the final bricks. Opening the path forward.

If I truly wanted to help the neurology field and help with research, then I can learn the science and methods neurologist apply. I then create software tools to enable further work. Open up studies and connecting new data. Making scans more accurate, or bringing new ways of thinking about the human brain. 

Totally possible. In fact software developers do this all the time. The door is not what you think. There are no gatekeepers or HR blocking the field. Open Source is powering all the fields and the field's tooling these days.

Truthfully the software itself is the only thing that matters. The tool you build qualifies your efforts. If it works then it works.

For example, many researches who study the genome, use open source technology. They prefer high quality free and open source software. A software that enables them complete freedom to tailor their tool to their task. They don't ask the developer for a degree or experience. They don't look at a resume. They are not asking who the developer knows. All they want is a tool that gets what they want, and if the tool is accurate and gets the job done, then they will use the tool. Simple.

The tool is what matters. And if the developer knows their stuff and can build the software well, then they are now part of the field. Creating cutting edge tech to improve research.

Almost every field uses open source technology. Art, concerts, drones, machines, enterprise finance, manufacturing, astrology, games. They are just a few examples. If you build it... Then...

We live in the information age. A blessing for my life. I have taken full advantage of the boundless freedom in the digital world. No need to buy brushes when I can draw endlessly on my iPad. No need to buy ballpoint pens as I have endless document space for writing. No need to work at company to build a game because I have everything I need to build a game. 

Software development is exponentially suited for the opportunist and optimist. 

All I need to do is continually improve, and the growth will give returns. And those returns will give me greater returns.

What is even more important to me is that I love this field. Software development is fulfilling. My journey to connect the dots and open up flow is also fulfilling. I am changing and adapting as writing is turning into my central focal point. I love the tools. I love the code. I love the challenge I find each day, and I am grateful for the purpose it brings, and as I focus my being into the task and improve my own situation. Each every day.

My own writing is a history that records the progress and the joys and the sorrows in my life. We are here to grow and to live and to experience. And mistakes happen. While there may be darkness there will be so much more to be. There is light.

I am and will continue to seek for good. Wherever and whenever I learn, I am jumping headfirst. Hands down. No looking back. When I find error, I correct the mistake. I reflect and then change. When I am stuck in my classic ways, I pray and I ask for help to discover better ways. For a better tomorrow. Tomorrow will indeed arrive.