Monday, March 06, 2006

Learning new tricks

Today I saw this comment from someone looking for advice on Linux tools:

The more Win like the GUI the better for Linux noobies like me.

My response is: If you are already used to Win GUIs you are a noobie no more.

Moving from one OS to another implies relearning and adapting. It's harder to teach an old dog new tricks.

The same happens when switching applications on the same OS. The more knowledgeable you are about a tool, the more complains you will have about a new one. Many people were still using WordPerfect for DOS long after there were Windows tools available, just because they already knew all the cryptic WP key combinations.

Even user friendliness is on the eye of the beholder. Some people find GUIs less user friendly than command line because GUIs rarely allow automation for repetitive tasks.

What is true is that the more tools and ways-of-thinking you learn, the easier will be to learn something different if nothing else just because you will be already conditioned to accept change.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

The joy of working on what you really like

It's funny how coincidences happen. Today I was chatting with a coworker wondering why people complain about not liking their job. Latter today I found this post with someone doing exactly that.

What struck me the most was the following quote:

a [IT] career that is stressful, demands never-ending BORING study".

Actually that summed the reason for most of the complains about working in IT but also most of the reasons for enjoying it

We, that like what we do, find studying new things very exciting and rewarding. It actually becomes boring when you don't move on to other technologies.

That aside, with so many different jobs and careers out there, why would someone stay in something that he/she finds unrewarding?

Do what you really love and you won't find it boring. If your circumstances change and you no longer enjoy what you are doing, then move on. The sooner the better. Don't let the inertia kill you.

The post ends with "I've decided to plan an exit strategy to leave the field because I've had enough". Good for him! That is the best thing it can happen to him and to his co-workers and company.

I hope he finds something fulfilling to do.

What about you? Do you like what you do? I know I do.

There is a first

Finally a space for my ranting

I finally decided to create my blog.

This should be an eclectic collection of thoughts, sometimes related, sometimes unrelated. As my main interests are Software development and Politics, that should be the main focus but I won't know until it's all written.

I decided to create it because as with everybody else, sometimes I have thoughts that seem very interesting, or opinions that seem completely accurate. I wonder how many times I would go back and laugh at them or maybe, just maybe marvel at how right I was.