{"id":33,"date":"2007-11-27T20:29:34","date_gmt":"2007-11-28T03:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/codefork.com\/blog\/index.php\/2007\/11\/27\/thoughts-at-the-beginning-of-something-new-well-sort-of-new\/"},"modified":"2007-11-27T20:30:24","modified_gmt":"2007-11-28T03:30:24","slug":"thoughts-at-the-beginning-of-something-new-well-sort-of-new","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codefork.com\/blog\/index.php\/2007\/11\/27\/thoughts-at-the-beginning-of-something-new-well-sort-of-new\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts at the Beginning of Something New (well, sort of new)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few months ago, I decided not to finish my PhD in literature, and instead return to my prior career as a programmer. It was a huge decision. Since then, I’ve been freelancing and job hunting, with varying degrees of effort and success.<\/p>\n

My biggest concern was to avoid repeating my experiences in the Bay Area dot-coms. Ah, those days of youthful innocence! Back then, getting paid to write code seemed like the most incredible thing ever. What more could you want? Needless to say, I burnt out quickly. The industry and people were insane, code quality was subordinate to unreasonable deadlines, and most important of all, I didn’t feel invested in the project ideas I worked on.<\/p>\n

dilbert2666700071126.gif<\/a><\/p>\n

I’ve learned that mission is very important to me. It’s why I’ve enjoyed grad school and and teaching, and why I’ve been good at them: I could get behind what I was doing. When I left, it was because I decided the profession and the current market weren’t right for me, not because I stopped believing in education, literature, and critical thinking.<\/p>\n

So this time around, I’ve sent out resumes very selectively. Sadly, finding interesting companies was harder than I expected. And the companies I did want to work for had stringent requirements for certain credentials. Over time, my standards fell. I interviewed at a company working on mobile phone and web integration, and they made me an attractive offer. Though it wasn’t perfect, there were many good things about it, and I could see myself there for the next few years.<\/p>\n

Then I got an email out of the blue. A friend had mentioned me to Crosscut<\/a>, “a guide to local and Northwest news, a place to report and discuss local news, and a platform for new tools to convey local news.” They’re a group of established journalists thinking creatively about using the web while maintaining high standards of quality for regional coverage. Wow, I thought. New technology + socially important writing. Cool<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I’ll be starting a part-time position there next week.<\/p>\n

Oh, there are aspects of the job that could be better. But it felt right to sign on to a project that I thought was worthy and important, even if I’m not making an insanely high salary or using the absolute coolest technology (read: python). How serendipitous that Giles Bowkett (whose blog I read regularly) should write today about “The Job I Want Next<\/a>“: “Alternating between work and art was a mistake. I want to address my artistic interests in a consistent, dedicated way, and that includes programming<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

I’d like to keep as many of my interests consistently in my life as well, instead of jumping back and forth. It’s a good way to guarantee waking up each morning excited about the day. Sadly, it’s not easy to achieve. But I feel like I’m getting a little bit closer to it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few months ago, I decided not to finish my PhD in literature, and instead return to my prior career as a programmer. It was a huge decision. Since then, I’ve been freelancing and job hunting, with varying degrees of effort and success. My biggest concern was to avoid repeating my experiences in the Bay … Continue reading “Thoughts at the Beginning of Something New (well, sort of new)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/codefork.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/codefork.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/codefork.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codefork.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codefork.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/codefork.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/codefork.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codefork.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codefork.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}