The Day the Muse Died
johnpweiss.com
johnpweiss.com
I'm pretty sure that my career in technology is going to end with me on a ranch miles away from the nearest computer and it sounds delightful
Also avoid burnout of doing the same activity all the time
I feel the call of the Muse, and always try to negotiate because, well, I need money to live. To me, creativity feels like a laser I can point in any chosen direction.
Want to make a SAAS ? Sure ! Here are a dozen ideas ! Want to write a Sci-fi short story ? There you go, have your pick between those ! Want to make a video game ? Oh boy, have I got the concepts for you !
Then, it's the execution part. The one I never really got right...How could I focus on just one thing ? One thing to make, when the excitement is long gone ?Until I noticed that if I choose a good project, good in the sense that it feeds my soul, helps my fellow human beings and sadly, not necessarily that it will make me money...It's easier to stick to it.
In the end, the Muse wins. So I just stick with them, and who knows ! Maybe I can buy a beer or two with their fruits :)
The things we do to escape the burdens of our current day job change when we change our day job.
Turning the escape into the day job is risky.
Now hobby is his day job.
Them's fightin' words, around here...
I used to be a musician (a fairly good bass player[0] -Don't laugh. That hair was the height of fashion, at the time).
I used to be an artist (a fairly good one[1]).
I ended up sidelining both of them for writing software. I don't really regret that, but writing software for other people really sucked. Sucked like a galaxy-core, supermassive black hole. I worked for a company that took Quality seriously, so I didn't have to deal with the internal shame of deliberately releasing crap software. I probably would have gone nuts, if that had been the case, and no amount of money would have fixed it.
I now write the software that I want to write, on my terms. It's a joy. I have to keep the scope pretty humble, but I have been having the time of my life.
It helps to coordinate the eye and the hand.
It starts with being able to accurately and dispassionately render what I see, on paper.
From there, I am able to modify the process, so the visual source, is in my head, as opposed to in front of my eyes.
Artists like Picasso and Pollock were actually very good realist artists, but their expression came from their interpretation of their own vision.
In my experience, there’s no shortcuts. I have to be able crawl, then walk, before I can run.
Just like software development.
In my case, hiring a teacher, who, right off the bat, told me I was screwing up, was also necessary.
yes, so much this!
my.fad, also a passionate artist, hated how they thinned out technical crafts foundations from arts college. "no more stupid copying and banale Line and color practice! freedum!" the college went.
my dad just said (translation follows)
@> Kunst kommt von können. Wenn es von wollen käme hieße es Wunst und wir wären Wünstler.
art comes from artistry. if it was based on "wanting" we'd call it "want" and we (artists) were "wantists"
or "wished" and "wishedits"
along these lines
he'd learned sketching from herding small livestock, goats, geese, chicken and sketching them, as a kid...
Yeah, when I was forced to retire, I was really pissed, but it ended up being one of the best things to have happened to me.
I read HN, and think that I am probably in a good spot for myself, once I walk away and find something else. Probably almost anything. I crave knowledge and haven't compromised much on the software I've built in the last decade or so, and feel like I can confidently explain my reasoning and techniques for large projects. Most of what I do is under NDA, and I (maybe not-so-smart) have done a TON of work outside of normal hours, but I've always put them back into the company's software. I do feel like you are living the type of life when it comes to being happy and satisfied, so I just wanted you to know I appreciate your comments/posts and outlook on things.
I was blessed, having the resources to retire early. Most are not so fortunate.