You might not need a Fastlane

[srodrigo]

Just to clarify from the start, this is not a troll thread or something like that. I want to comment on two excerpts from Unscripted and TMF (I hope MJ doesn’t mind me posting them here) that have been in my head for a few weeks:

Quote from The Millionaire Fastlane :
If you are one of the lucky few who can earn an income from a specific activity that you love AND are good enough, kudos to you. And congratulations, you might not need a Fastlane. A Slowlane just might suffice. No worries. But for those of us who can’t transform our loves into income, there are other alternatives paved by the Fastlane.

Quote from Unscripted:
Much of this research also explains why certain jobs are incredibly fulfilling and why everyone doesn’t need to be an entrepreneur. If your job fulfills meaning-and-purpose while also providing some autonomy, connectedness, and feeling of competence, you’ve struck gold.

I’ve been thinking about this in the last few weeks. There’s been a few big changes like moving abroad and taking a job (a few months contract, really, but there’ll be more contracting after that) again. I’m lucky enough to like programming a lot, and even luckier to be able to earn good money from it.

I realised a few days ago that my passion for developing video games is probably not as important as I thought. I’ve been in and out for years, and haven’t touched it for a few months, after spending over half a year full-time. This made me think about what my real passions are, and came up with two:

1. Learning (in general). It doesn’t matter what it is: a new language, web design, programming, chess, how to draw, music, etc. I just love learning new things.
2. Programming. This has been always there. Even when software development stopped being my profession/studies for a couple of years, I still coded in my spare time. The same has happened in the last few months when I didn’t really work on any project (lots of action faking) but was still coding here and there.

In the last 18 years, the two things above have stood the test of time as no other things have, even when I thought those other things were really important. Programming has been the common denominator during all that time, and it gives me a sense of fulfilment when I learn new stuff and get the work done well. I’m currently spending my spare time catching up with some tech used at my new contract that I’m less familiar with, and I’m enjoying it.

For all these reasons, I started to think that I might fit in the two quotes above. I love most aspects of profession, it gives me some autonomy, that feeling of competence that makes you satisfied, and it’s well paid if you are good at it. Work hours can be longer than usual sometimes, but it normally gives me evenings and weekends free to do other things I love, either some non-related stuff or keep learning to improve as a dev, or to work on side projects.

It’s still a job/profession though. I miss the freedom I had a few months ago when I was pursuing personal projects full-time. And it still has most of the concerns of a job (security, doesn’t scale apart from intrinsic value, not owning your own time, limited holidays -although being a contractor gives more flexibility, but still limited during contracts-, office politics, idiotic team mates, etc.). But when you weigh everything, it doesn’t look too bad. Even getting a good remote job can be a great improvement, as you don’t have to commute and can work from wherever you want, giving you more time and some more freedom.

I wonder if the above makes any sense at all, and whether there are other people here thinking the same. Maybe I just need a break and that's why I'm thinking about this.

 

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[Pink Sheep]

Tasi, zua fupv piif vji getvmepi. Nutv qiuqmi fupv piif ov.
Zua teof ov zuastimg, zua nott vji gsiifun. Epf vjevt xjz zua tjuamf hu gus ov.

Jisi ot nz 2 dipvt. Zua muwi miespoph epf dufoph, tu zua dep neli eqqt us tovit vjev jimq zua op vjev iyqisoipdi, atigam vuumt, nezci zua katv xepv vu dasevi siemmz huuf duastit epf timm e tactdsoqvoup.

Vjisi esi nepz xezt vu nupivobi vjuti opvisitvt, zua fupv jewi vu ci tvadl op e fezkuc og ovt sietupecmi vu edjoiwi gsiifun.

 

[srodrigo]

Tasi, zua fupv piif vji getvmepi. Nutv qiuqmi fupv piif ov.
Zua teof ov zuastimg, zua nott vji gsiifun. Epf vjevt xjz zua tjuamf hu gus ov.

Jisi ot nz 2 dipvt. Zua muwi miespoph epf dufoph, tu zua dep neli eqqt us tovit vjev jimq zua op vjev iyqisoipdi, atigam vuumt, nezci zua katv xepv vu dasevi siemmz huuf duastit epf timm e tactdsoqvoup.

Vjisi esi nepz xezt vu nupivobi vjuti opvisitvt, zua fupv jewi vu ci tvadl op e fezkuc og ovt sietupecmi vu edjoiwi gsiifun.

O ehsii vjev O tjuamf hu gus ov vu hiv vji gsiifun cedl, iwip og O fup'v piif ov. Vjisi't epuvjis vjoph vjev siemmz vsuacmit ni, epf ot hivvoph vuu umf/siqmediecmi op vji gavasi epf jewoph qsucmint xovj hivvoph kuct (O'wi emsiefz tiip tuni umfis cav iydimmipv fiwimuqist jewoph vsuacmit, us iwip jewoph vu nuwi ecsuef op vjios 50t - puv duum). Vjev't vji iyedv teni vjoph O vjuahjv ug upi zies ehu. Apgusvapevimz, O guapf vjuti emupi esi puv ipuahj vu gosi vji vsohhis eheop pux. O jef tuni GVIt op vji qetv ev qsiwouat kuct epf nefi ni qatj jesfis, cav ev vji nunipv vji ashipdz ot puv vjisi. Gus pux, nz qsugittoup qezt ximm ipuahj vu puv ohpusi ov, epf ov fuitp'v iydmafi xusloph up muph-visn gsiifun up vji tofi, vjiz esip'v opdunqevocmi.

O tvomm jewi tuni ofiet gus TeeT/nucomi eqqt, epf tuni wofiu henit. O xepv vu hu gus vjin (tqidoemmz vji mevis) iwip og ov't katv gus qistupem tevotgedvoup (civvis vjep tqipfoph up vji voni up Afinz duastit). O haitt xjip vji vseptovoup qisouf ug nz pix mogi ipft (xjodj jet tvsittif ni uav nipvemmz e muv), O'mm giim mitt "miv't miesp tvagg us dufi gus gap!" epf nusi "fenp, O xepv vu ci ecmi vu jewi e DJUODI, miv't dsievi tunivjoph gus siem!", epf xomm hiv cedl up vsedl.