Where am I at?

Howdy blog followers and visitors! (if I still any of either haha)
Where am I at? What am I doing?

I have been working incredibly hard as of late. My job has recently taken a few interesting turns where I am developing more and being involved in some more highly visible projects¹; which of course is incredibly enjoyable, humbling and fun.

I love developing/programming. As soon as I open my IDE, I am engrossed in a world that is mine to create, massage and grow; it is an incredible feeling! I watch as my brain transfers ideas and complexities into a way for a computer to execute them and provide me with its own interpretation/s. Sometimes I realise that the way I am explaining it, the computer cannot understand and we differ on interpretation. In these instances I sometimes have to understand more the computers interpretation and yield to its expert opinion; other times I realise that my interpretation is correct and enforce my opinion. Turning written text, grammar and mathematics into a working piece of software is so incredibly rewarding and exciting!

There has been a lot of talk around the interwebs that more people, of all walks of life, need to learn to code; like riding a bike it is being considered an almost essential skill that, when lacking in said skill, inhibits your very being from being truly satisfied. As someone who is learning to code and is developing and releasing applications, I can see how the pure delight I feel could be shared amongst others. However, I do not see it as a life skill that everyone should be doing or learning. Do you love to draw, paint, make music, teach, interpret politics? Do that instead of learning to code. If you want to learn, do! But if it’s not for you, it’s not for you :)

There has also been comparisons drawn about coding as an art form. I honestly do feel that when I create a piece of code or software, that I am creating art; in my eyes. When I open a page of code, and look at the way it all integrates, I get inspired to learn more and write more of my own. I can see, however, that to others it may not seem that way.

It all comes down to what inspires you to do what you love. I feel like I create a type of art, and that’s ok.

Sadly, I cannot code all the time; there are other priorities. Some of the new involvements at work are requiring me to exercise other aspects of my skill-set to help create a truly novel and unique high availability compute environment for scientists and researchers to achieve results faster. I am learning about different aspects of compute, HDD storage and networking protocols. It is utterly fascinating and rewarding to be involved in such aspects of grandeur!

However, I do feel a longing to be immersing myself deeper in code and development; we will see what the future holds I think. Maybe if I was to pursue a more active professional programming role, I would enjoy coding less in my own time.

It’s all about balance and I am loving this journey!