What's Going On Here

Recently I came to a conclusion of several parts. First of all I just don't have the energy to keep ramping up my level of output as a developer. No longer is it enjoyable to attempt to figure out exactly how to pump out 12 change requests this week vs the 11 that went out last week. There's vast room for improvement in process where I ply my trade, but most of the factors which would need to be worked on in order to fix that are either beyond my control or beyond my (admittedly limited) skill set to fix.

Secondly, I know a really stupidly ridiculous amount about the craft of software development. The people I work with are generally highly professional and seem to have received a good bit of training (most have some sort of 4 year degree in our field, some have Master's Degrees). Some of them have considerable experience (far less than me as a rule, but that would be a high bar). Still, they seem quite narrow in their focus, not having a really broad view of the industry, their role in it, and the vast array of trade craft which has been amassed over the last 50 or so years.

Thus it seems to me at this point that my knowledge and experience outreach my capacity to use them, and probably constitute the more valuable portion of my own professional assets. So, what is one to do when one finds that he or she is no longer particularly interested in, or inclined to, earn a living using the one skill that separates him from the local car wash attendant?

Well, perhaps I can pass on at least some of what I have picked up. Here we are in 2017. Twenty five years ago I built my first web application, and I already had a pile of software development experience at that point. Yet I've never ventured to blog or spent any vast effort thrusting words out into the great Internet Void. However, I can write, so I will. I will write about what I know, the craft of engineering and implementing applications.

Being a practical sort of fellow, I'm just going to show and tell. I have some other interests, and one of them suggested a reasonable use case for such an application. So, what we'll do is we'll see exactly how the process unfolds. Whereas most people who blog about these sorts of topics try to demonstrate fairly abstract cut-and-dried textbook examples of carrying out some specific task, or a recipe for setting up some tool, etc. instead I will talk about what the tools are, how I chose them, and describe all the ugly pitfalls, quandaries, dilemmas, and perhaps even solutions which arose.

For now I think this is enough chatter. Its probably not that interesting in any case. I will get on to the meat of it in my next post, where I will discuss my selected need, the problem I wish to solve. For now, its on to catching up with Schlock Mercenary!