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April 17, 2006
Unstructured thoughts on the eternal quandary
On foot of my last but one post, no, I wasn’t promoted - but no surprise there, I’ve only been in my current position six months. What was surprising was the feedback received on my performance after the interview; I was weak in the areas I thought I’d be weak in, but far stronger than I thought I’d ever be in others. Encouraging stuff overall.
On the other hand, I’m turning 30 soon. It’s been five years (yes Oliver, five years) since I last made a serious go of being self-employed, and while that’s still the ultimate ambition I know now there’s far more to consider than the desire to be creatively & financially independent.
As I write, Graham and Myra are touring the world on a two-year journey. At one stage I made a half-conscious decision not to do something similar. I know travel broadens the mind but in a funny way I want to narrow mine - I want to become very good at one thing in particular, which is what I’ve spent a fair amount of my spare time over the last few years doing. Haskell is the latest piece of that puzzle but a large part of me is thinking that if I had a little more discipline and a little less inclination to find some magical means of making programming easier, then I’d have some actual software to show for the past half-decade.
Three thoughts arising:
- Graham and Myra seem to be having the time of their lives
- Working for myself would be creatively rewarding, and maybe even financially rewarding, but the job I do now is one of those jobs that it feels great to do right - there’s a dull but morally satisfying core to it that being self-employed definitely wouldn’t provide
- The past five years have been the best of my life, but that’s all my fiancée’s fault!
Posted by Oliver at 01:29 AM | Comments (0)