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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 5th, 2023

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  • For small projects, I’ll use csv files for my data.

    It’s much faster for me to prototype concepts in simple text files than designing and building a database.

    Once the project matures or scales large enough, I’ve usually reached the point I’m going to rewrite it from scratch “the right way”, so will build a database if it makes sense.

    Maybe one in twenty projects reach the point it’s worth moving.




  • Well, got back 4 more and you are pre OBD2 and modern emissions sure, but now you’re dealing with a technically ‘classic’ car and the rust, wear and tear, and parts availability issues that come w it.

    2014 - 2018 will get you a modern car without a touch screen or Internet connection, which is what I’m really after.

    Physical controls I can use with my eyes on the road, and not a subscription to worry about.







  • I did it for a few years, and blew through all my savings in the process.

    Had to start an actual business, LLC, and deal with all the parts that as an engineer I absolutely hate.

    Had done about 15 years in the industry with a small tech company, had all the skills, leads, etc, and wanted to do it on my own.

    Way underestimated how much time and effort the running of a business part takes, and while I had projects, I didn’t have the time to do them right, payment was always late so my profit shrank, and I burned out in two years.

    Hired an admin to help with managing the projects and clients, but it was too little too late.

    I’m not saying don’t do it, I’m saying be sure to have all those other elements well in place, cause the actual time spent programming was pretty small.

    In the end I took a role as the on site guy for a very large company, making decent money, and I’m back doing the parts I enjoy.

    Best of luck to you.


  • I take great pride in my work. The results are appreciated by the whole company. I’m lucky that now I’m on a small team of good people, but that isn’t always the case.

    I tend to ignore the dead weight when it’s there, because I know I’ll get my part done, and if I have to work extra to pick up the slack, I’m not shy to draw attention to it.

    My whole chain of command knows what I do, and not being in management, dealing with lazy ineffective people isn’t my problem.

    Focus on you, talk to management about the issues you face, but don’t point out others failures, just let it be implied.








  • Once took a trip to Alaska to visit a friend. He was so excited to show me real mountain snowboarding, and boy did he have a surprise for me.

    One night had a real good dump of snow, and he took me off trail. We’d been keeping it pretty mellow, with me being the more experienced rider, though only had done the midwest.

    We rode into this mellow canyon, must have been a river bed or something, like a natural half pipe. Just got into a rhythm carving back and forth, following him, pushing higher and higher slashes on the walls.

    Then, on one frontside wall, maybe 20 foot high, I look over my shoulder, and the world fell away. The whole thing dropped down into a steep wall that had to be 100 foot high. Powder up to my waist, almost in free fall, we ran down like bats out of hell.

    When we hit the bottom I flopped down, completely covered in snow, and couldn’t stop laughing and grinning for a good 5 minutes.


  • Multiple times in my career the thing I had trained for basically stopped being a thing, or became such an easy thing it wasn’t going to be much of a job.

    Being at the wrong point, either too early or too late, in various tech waves almost felt like my super power.

    Wasn’t until I turned thirty that I picked the right tech at the right time, and for 20 years have had a great career in an industry that is just as valuable today as when I started.

    Programming turned out to be a major component in what I do, and while I’ve seen AI spit out some reasonable code in the more popular languages, I can’t see it replacing what I’m doing before I’m too old to care.