Web(6+9)/5
I write this essay basking under the refreshing sun on the shores of the Great Lakes region. The last month was a proper exploration of intent and figuring out where should I ply my trade and effort. This tiny post is just an agglomeration of slightly related thoughts.
1) A friend of mine posed a thought experiment to figure out what energizes me vs. what drains me. I realized that I enjoy talking to customers, divorcing this constant from my older role helped me realize one component of my job that I can use to build my preferred role. Other constants that I realized was I appreciated on being able to provide meaningful abstractions to complex systems. Something I am partaking in my current role. In Product Management, you usually do this in the form of operationalizing. As someone in a hybrid support and engineering function, usually you do this through software automation or finding neat abstractions from confusing parts of your product.
2) Building on Ethereum today versus 2016 feels like building more with Duplo blocks rather than having to discover from scratch on how to sign transactions with a poorly documented JS lib. As the mantle layer of developer frameworks start to harden and cool into the compromises we need- it will be exciting to see where the DevEx heads. I think it will be important that in the same way how we don’t think twice about WebRTC or hypertext protocols, we shouldn’t have to think twice about the payment mechanisms that undergird the internet. Same with building compute… don’t make me think.
3) I think that all of the fun and whimsy in the internet that I was lamenting about a few months is back. It’s a joyous feeling. In the same way how web developers don’t have to think about the DOM. I notice that younger developers have been using Discord as a clean abstraction to interface with programs, no need to build convoluted interfaces to access their remote compute, just slot in their logic with a Discord. This is why many developers are up in arms, its not that Discord is a chat app. Its a way to access to compute in a radically simple way. When you complicate simple things, revolts happen.
4) I studied theology- I was pretty partial to Hegel. Although one concludes his work is not really defensible, I had a desire to find out why people *believe* in things. I took so many classes I could have declared a minor. This was kinda baffling for most of my CS friends. Point being, in the last few years launching things, I realized that most founders have more in common with street preachers of the evangelical variety than the clergy found in most Orthodox traditions. Their goal is to get the world to see it the way they do, they might see a vision that is so real, it is willed. Everyone raising their hands all at the same time, joining in song, wealth manifested, realities created.
5) I am thinking a lot about the type of person who I was when I made this tweet. Although I am not much different in terms of outcomes, but I am glad that through all of the successes and failures I have endured with my friends. I am just as hungry to learn and grapple with new concepts. One aspect that I feel more comfortable with is the fact that I may not be the best at one thing, but you can count on me to be there, at the right place, at my keyboard, working hard. I ask not to become cynical no matter how many personal difficulties I face.
I know this isn’t much- but much has been happening in my life lately and I can’t wait to show you what I’ll work on. I am in a moment of my life where I feel like I will be able to do the best work of my life. I am grateful and humbled.
How great is it that we get the chance to try again.
It’s a rough world out there, let’s remind ourselves to be kind and charitable to one another.