Long time no speak! And a bit of personal introspection

Hey everyone,

It's been a while, for sure. My last post was in August, so I guess it's not been that long... but being away from all of you just made it seem like an eternity :P

I'm coming up on the 3 1/2 year anniversary of Codeweaver. It'll be a celebration for sure... me and the code will have some quality time together, as I use my one free weekend to go at it with a round of updates. So, I'll have pizza, some Pepsi, The West Wing in the background to create some background noise, and my keyboard. Assuming all goes according to plan, you should be getting an update in a couple of weeks.

I still read the bug reports, and I'm making a list of fixes, so don't assume the project is abandoned :)

BTW - If you don't have Codeweaver yet, get it here!

As for me, I've been busy with school. My IT consulting company is currently being handled by my business partner as I spend almost every waking moment in the school building.

I'm going to reflect on a few things now. If you're not interested in anything non-techish, you're safe to leave now. Nothing interesting will be coming your way from that end :)

I've been programming for over ten years. I've done networking for over half a decade, too. Besides being somewhat good at the two of them, and running two businesses over the past 5 years, I realized that it's not actually what I want.

I started my work in the IT industry working as a technician intern for a datacenter. Over the course of my employment at 3 different companies in the span of four years, I ended up as senior network engineer. I then moved on. I wanted to be an entrepreneur and make my mark in the tech industry, so I opened up a web hosting and dedicated server company, but I got bored of that in a couple of years. There's only so much I can be excited by shared hosting, HSPHERE control panels, and Linux installations. When the web hosting market started to get over-saturated by providers, I closed my business. I moved on to contract programming. The money was good, but the work was tedious -- same thing, day in and day out, just different ways of putting it (build database, write web application to communicate with database; store, retrieve, archive, report). Last year I got fed up with that and started an IT company with a partner. The money was even better, and the work was easy. It was fun going to customers on-site and configure their networks, build servers, maintain infrastructure, etc. I went back to school last year to finish my CS degree. I always wanted to be a teacher, and I figured that with my IT company on the side, I can make pretty decent money teaching and doing networking work. It was a solid plan, and I was committed.

Then, one night, I sat down and thought about it. I'm almost 23 years old; my acceptable days-as-a-student are coming to an end. I have to decide now, what I want to do, because this is the last decision I am allowed to make now. My time meandering around the various walks of life has come to an end.

I thought about it, and I realized I was bored with programming and networking. I was burnt out; 50% of the days I've pulled in the past three years were 18 - 20 hour days; some of them even surpassed the 36 hour mark. Not to mention, I wasn't excited about it anymore, and a lot of the work was just done by myself. Even as a hobby, the times when I had an idea for a cool program (like TorqueDev), and I would jump at the chance to sit down and start programming, were over. I didn't feel that drive -- that excitement -- any longer. Additionally, I had no great people to work with, and BS with during Windows XP installation times; all I did was stare at a slowly-moving progress bar while eating a sandwich. It was my last chance to actually do what I've dreamed of doing since before I started programming computers in 1995.

So, I made the jump. Despite the fear of facing looks of "WTF" from my friends and family, I decided to shift gears and start a life in the film industry. Since before I touched a keyboard, I've been excited about films... not so much watching them, but making them. My substitute for this during high school was technical theater. I crewed at least a dozen shows over the course of three years, several of the shows for community theater. I did sound, lights, stage crew; I even stage managed for one show. I loved it, and secretly wished I could continue doing it... but, I just continued with my pre-determined path that I had solidified in not only my mind, but the minds of everyone else who knew me. I was destined to be a computer guy.

This weekend I finished my first eight weeks at a prestigious film school here in Los Angeles. It was intense. It was almost as bad as being a NOC engineer at a datacenter -- 12 - 14 hour days were like every other day. But I found that these past eight weeks I've been more happy than I had been over the course of the last six years. These next three weeks are what are called the "production cycle", where we crew on professional shoots and learn, hands-on, all the aspects of working on a film shoot. Last week we had to choose our majors, so I chose cinematography and producing. I love working with a camera and telling stories visually, and while it may not be my strongpoint yet, I think that as I continue to work at it, it will become much better. I like the idea of producing too... my business background certainly helps in this field, so I look forward to working in it.

People have told me that it's a crazy decision. "How the hell do you expect to get a job?" they asked. Well, I don't know, but I do know one thing -- while I'm actually quite shy, I am a "people person". I thrive off of connections and the people that I know. That's how I got 90% of the jobs when I worked as an IT consultant and contract programmer. I have a feeling that won't fail me as I enter a new industry. I know I love working with people. Teamwork is a really strong connection for me, and I like developing it as much as possible.

And yes, the money is good. But it's not about the money; it never has been. If it was, I would have stayed doing contract programming or IT consulting. Not to say that I wont continue to do IT consulting and run by business; I have to, if I want to continue to live while I'm in school... but the point is, that's not why I'm here. And that's not why my classmates are here, either, which is very refreshing. We all love what we do; that's what counts. And it's not tedious at all.

People say the honeymoon will end eventually. Maybe, but I know this industry is more dynamic than IT and programming can ever be, and I think that even that slight bit of dynamics is enough to keep me occupied and not bored.

So, that's where I am. If you've read this far, then thanks for listening. And please, wish me luck. My school is a one year program, and I end next September. After that, I begin a whole new chapter in my life, one that will be much more difficult than anything I've experienced up to this point... so I will need all the luck I can get.

Now, this doesn't mean I'm giving up computing or programming. I will always love technology, and will do everything I can to stay on top of it and know what's going on. I will most likely be doing far less programming, and networking I have to do on occasion to pay the bills. I'm not bidding farewell forever.

Before I sign off, I want to invite anyone who's interested to take a look at my blog. I'll be documenting my journey through school and the industry there, as well as occasionally post articles about programming and network administration -- stuff I encounter on the job and need answers to, but never found, and figured out by myself -- that sort of thing. You also can subscribe to the RSS feed here if you're interested.

Thanks for listening, and see you all around!


PS - I'm going to be reposting this article on my blog as well... but I wrote it here first! So don't think I'm replicating this stuff everywhere :)