« RailsConf 2006 | Main | Getting Real, Barcamp, etc. »
More on Railsconf
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Sorry, I didn't mean to disappear like that ^^;. It be old news now, but I'll proceed where I left off anyway.
Through a very entertaining comparison of the lives of insiders and outsiders in an industry, Paul Graham's keynote entitled "The Power of the Marginal" totally changed the way I think about big and small companies. Somehow I never really thought about the advantages of joining or starting an obscure little business. It's more than just the advantages, though; I've realized that it's the mindset of a company that maintains a sense of freedom, appreciates its limitations, doesn't fear making mistakes, and spends its resources doing rather than planning that can make it so much more successful. This last month, I've started to see how I could fit into it all - the one aspect that gets me the most excited is that the people who do this kind of thing tend to be very passionate and have a love for what they do.
Some of my favorite points from his speech:
- "Obscurity is like health food - unpleasant, perhaps, but good for you. Fame tends to be like alcohol produced by fermentation. When it reaches a certain concentration, it kills off the yeast that produced it."
- Skill, pride, and money anchor a company down to the status quo.
- Don't learn things from teachers who are bad at those things.
- Cheap and lightweight projects spread and grow faster, have more personality ("magic"), and are conducive to faster learning.
- The great power of the marginal: "Just try hacking something together." Decide what to do as you're doing it, learn as you go.
- Spend less time worrying about what to do and more time building stuff. (This really got me thinking since as a college student still figuring out her life, I am indeed worrying constantly about what to do ^^;.)
- You're on the right track when people complain that you're unqualified and that what you're doing is inappropriate.
The presentation is available for viewing online - I highly recommend it. You can also read the full text of the speech.
Side note: As I browsed Paul's site I found another speech I found equally fascinating, one I had heard about from talking to my new friend Casper at Railsconf: Hackers and Painters. It got me REAL pumped up about the way my life is progressing :D. Two parts I particularly liked explain how both art and programming should be about the ability to 'doodle around' in order to explore your options, and also about putting a lot of care into the details in order to end up with a fully beautiful product:
A programming language is for thinking of programs, not for expressing programs you've already thought of. It should be a pencil, not a pen. Static typing would be a fine idea if people actually did write programs the way they taught me to in college. But that's not how any of the hackers I know write programs. We need a language that lets us scribble and smudge and smear, not a language where you have to sit with a teacup of types balanced on your knee and make polite conversation with a strict old aunt of a compiler.
When people walk by the portrait of Ginevra de Benci, their attention is often immediately arrested by it, even before they look at the label and notice that it says Leonardo da Vinci. All those unseen details combine to produce something that's just stunning, like a thousand barely audible voices all singing in tune. Great software, likewise, requires a fanatical devotion to beauty. If you look inside good software, you find that parts no one is ever supposed to see are beautiful too.
There's definitely a lot of things than can be hooked together here - visual art, programming, music, business, poetry, swordsmanship. I'll have to think about this more later.
Getting back to Railsconf - another talk that stood out to me was Nathaniel Talbott's keynote entitled Homesteading: A Thriver's Guide (a very nice summary can be found here.) Like Paul's speech, it was more of an inspirational thing, which compared the opportunities of homesteading in the late 1800's with those of entrepreneurialship today.
A question was asked: "Are we happy right now doing what we're doing?" He urged the audience to make the changes that would allow us to be able to say yes to that question.
Some other good thoughts:
- Our culture is obsessed with apparent security and the idea of landing a job at a place that would give a "cradle to grave" employment. Those days are gone, and the best course of action is to find work you love.
- If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, would you still be doing the same things today? How will you make it so that you're spending your life to the maximum and enjoying every moment of it?
- "Turn your dreams into code."
One interesting thing about the talk was the use of silent Bible verses on the screen to introduce each of his ten points. Nathaniel's faith came through in his speech and I really appreciate the extra depth that resulted.
Many other presentations had good stuff I could go on about, such as Scott Raymond's use of Vitruvius' architectural principles in relation to web development and David Demaree on user friendliness. The conversations I had between sessions were also very important and should be expounded upon. And the fun things, like that fantastic work of collaborative art in the hallway and the Why the Lucky Stiff concert :D. But I think I'm just going to conclude by mentioning the three revolutions pertaining to web development that have become very important to me because of this experience: that of technology, of business practices, and of gender.
Speaking of which, I'm so grateful for the incredible friendliness of the men at Railsconf. After my Intro to Lit class the other day, a woman in the construction industry shared that most of the men she meets at construction events have an attitude that tells her, "You don't belong here." I never got this feeling at Railsconf or any of the other male-dominated tech events I've been to; in fact, I get the impression that everybody supports the idea of more gender diversity in the business.
And now, a pic inspired by what I learned from Paul Graham :)
I'll write about the Getting Real principles, Barcamp, and the end of my CIS class next. Some time after that, I think a deeply personal, weepy post about turning 20 is in order. (AUGHHHHH!!!!)
6:25 PM
Comments
I assume you were kidding when you wrote about the weepy post bemoaning your birthday this year...however, I can relate at almost a serious level (with some measure of joviality mixed in)--I absolutely cannot fathom the idea that I am seventeen. I mean, honestly. o_O When did that happen? So, my sympathies are with you. (Or is it just the semi-sentimental music I'm listening to? Argh.) But...I guess I should give some sort of trite phrase about how each year is a gift from the Lord...(which, it truly is, if you think about it. My neighbor just died August 1st at the age of 32. Something to think about.)
Nonetheless...God bless until the next post...
Posted by Carley at August 6, 2006 8:04 PM
Time for a comment relevant to the content of the blog entry (not XD)!
--------
"He walked through the neighborhood with his hands on his hips. This didn't exactly improve his mobility, but it certainly added something to his bearing. And with the hat, he rather neatly reached the state of overbearing."
"Not motives, sir, but rather... motivational stimuli."
"The Icee machine was broken again? Not that I found this particularly shocking, but the fact was that it left an annoying stain on my day; yet another nagging reminder that life's small happinesses are indeed, transient."
-----------
Not a funny dump, I'm afraid. Anyway, moving up the post in reverse order...
chalkbot.jpg: a good name for the picture might be "(Secondhand Impression of the) Evolution of the Anklebiter." I mean, starting with your sig in the bottom right and moving left, it's like... "1) Void, 2) Let there be light, 3) Blobby forms, 4) Maturation of a species (The Anklebiter), etc. And the uber-binary star is a nice touch; that's what, six stars revolving around each other? Astronomy came to good use after all! Right hand fingers are cute, to use an inherently masculine descriptor.
"the best course of action is to find work you love": But I guess this assumes that we all discover what it is that we love by the time we ought to be in the working environment. Enter "what if" epidemic...
"teacup of types...strict old aunt of a compiler": It's kind of embarrassing how much like Java this sounds... an old grump of a compiler that always finds something to complain about. Ruby sounds like a breath of fresh air, so far... already I'm imagining a lot less tedious brackets and a bit more finesse overall. Guess I should give _why's "try ruby!" thing again.
Possibly more to come ^^.
Posted by Weien at August 7, 2006 1:38 AM
And there he was, marching down Main Street in a three-piece with all of the kids from the orphanage behind them in a line; they were singing a repetitive shanty as he twirled his cane. He took a left on Fifth Avenue and tossed his cane upwards, and staring up at its picturesque spin...
And then he woke up with a gasp, and swung his legs off the bed. Zephyr Vladismar mopped up what remained of his cold sweat before relaxing and reflecting that the best part about a nightmare is that it allows you appreciate real life. The moment of awakening, there's the rub.
Posted by Zephyr Vladismar at August 7, 2006 3:39 PM
Carley, I appreciate the encouragement. I wasn't kidding about dreading the onset of another year; it's mostly that I wish I had gotten farther by now. That each year is God's gift is good to remmeber though, because you gotta be grateful for God's gifts ^^. Thanks.
Weien, the comment on finding work you love -- hehe, that's a good point. Even I'm not sure if I love these things I've gotten into, or if I'm just being my manic, over-achieving, easily-obsessive, prove-to-the-world-I-can-do-anything self.
Oh, and I think Zephyr's dream would be a nightmare to me too ;). LOL
Posted by Victoria at August 11, 2006 9:10 PM
He waved his hands dismissively. "No, no--it's very simple," he promised. He put one arm around my shoulders.
"You plus her, man. It's that simple." He took a deep breath. "You... plus her."
I stared at him, nonplussed.
------------
Lol.
Posted by Weien at August 17, 2006 1:35 AM