Monday 6 April 2015

It's a wonderful life

Reflection is important in many aspects of life. When we complete a project, when a new year begins and when we unwind with friends and colleagues. We reflect on events as a means to make sense of them, learn from them and move on from them.

As software engineers we are conscious of reflection as part of the Application Lifecycle Management process, and I thought that I would take this opportunity to reflect on my life as a software engineer.

The advice that I received from my parents before I went to college and university was: "You'll be working for a long time, make sure that you do something that you enjoy". This advice stayed with me. There where times when it seemed like it was bad advice, but I can look back over the last 15 years and say that I enjoy what I do as much as ever.

I'm a practical and creative person, and I have at my finger tips the means to create anything that I could want, Applications, Games, Data Visualization. I share these interests with friends and colleagues that make me want to be more than I am. And although a lot of my friends don't actually understand what I do and don't see what could be enjoyable in it, that's okay, 'not everyone's like you'*.

I chose to do what I enjoy, and I enjoy what I do. And on reflection, It's a wonderful life.

At DDDNorth with some likeminded people.

* 'In the mood for love' - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118694/