Problems and solutions
I was thinking about what inspiration drove me to make this wonderful little app (www.simplecheckregister.com), as well as a few other apps (that I don't want to post about right now because they are nowhere near done). I realized that I'm getting closer and closer every day of living the dream of every creative coder; working for myself and retiring early. But then it got scary. Will I have enough ideas to keep myself afloat? Will they be any good?
But not to worry. I realized what my inspiration has been so far. It's simple: out in the world of computing, there are problems. Lots and lots of problems. Many of the systemic to the very nature of the internet. As a creative person, and someone who values my own time and effort, I don't like to put up with those problems. And as a coder, I want to build solutions. As long as there continue to be bottlenecks in the way we do things, there will always be a place for people like me to make it better.
A lot of what we (as techies) do online comes from an inspiration of a solution to a problem that we don't have and can't relate to (as happens with someone who takes orders from on high), or is a solution to a problem that nobody except the coder has (how to make an artificial neural network that finds the most optimal method of getting out Mt. Dew and Cheeto stains). It takes a special kind of person that has the skills to write good code, the creativity to give themselves drive to do it, and a normal life that provides normal problems for which there is an audience for your solutions. I feel very lucky to have been around people like this for most of my life, and I hope that some of it has bled off.
It's so easy for tech people to get sucked into a tech world, and see only their corner-case problems as the only problems, but forget about the other 90% and their problems. We are the sort of people who are all about efficiency, and so we don't have the same problems a lot of people have; we find more efficient ways of working. Of course, that just means that we have different problems.
I am making it my goal to not be that person. I want to be the guy that has normal problems. That has normal frustrations with technology, and can create a solution that everyone can use, not just me.
Can you imagine an internet filled with people with that goal, instead of all the strange things we find on the web? I think that's a vision worth working towards.
But not to worry. I realized what my inspiration has been so far. It's simple: out in the world of computing, there are problems. Lots and lots of problems. Many of the systemic to the very nature of the internet. As a creative person, and someone who values my own time and effort, I don't like to put up with those problems. And as a coder, I want to build solutions. As long as there continue to be bottlenecks in the way we do things, there will always be a place for people like me to make it better.
A lot of what we (as techies) do online comes from an inspiration of a solution to a problem that we don't have and can't relate to (as happens with someone who takes orders from on high), or is a solution to a problem that nobody except the coder has (how to make an artificial neural network that finds the most optimal method of getting out Mt. Dew and Cheeto stains). It takes a special kind of person that has the skills to write good code, the creativity to give themselves drive to do it, and a normal life that provides normal problems for which there is an audience for your solutions. I feel very lucky to have been around people like this for most of my life, and I hope that some of it has bled off.
It's so easy for tech people to get sucked into a tech world, and see only their corner-case problems as the only problems, but forget about the other 90% and their problems. We are the sort of people who are all about efficiency, and so we don't have the same problems a lot of people have; we find more efficient ways of working. Of course, that just means that we have different problems.
I am making it my goal to not be that person. I want to be the guy that has normal problems. That has normal frustrations with technology, and can create a solution that everyone can use, not just me.
Can you imagine an internet filled with people with that goal, instead of all the strange things we find on the web? I think that's a vision worth working towards.
posted by 3 Cubes Down at 8:02 AM
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