devSolo

Everybody has heard the phrase “Chinese Water Torture” before.  It’s something most of us use to describe a situation where we are stuck, can do nothing about it, and must endure a persistent unending application of a seemingly smallish annoyance that builds up until it’s an unbearable torture. I cannot say that I’ve ever personally experienced Chinese Water Torture first hand, but my previous description of Chinese Water Torture is wrong. 

Imagine what it would be like to be in one of these machines. Drip… Drip… Drip… Drip… Drip… Drip. Drip… well duh, yeah, that’s what you’d expect.  But is that really the way it works?  The MythBusters subjected their own people to this torture during “Season 3: Episode 25: Brown Note, Blown Away, Water Torture”.   Result? Confirmed!  But Adam described what could be the most the most annoying part of the water torture. It wasn’t the water itself but the stupidly annoying little fly that kept walking on his feet and body randomly.  It’s that knowledge that some sort of annoying event may or may not happen to you at any moment and you are powerless to stop it. 

What does this have to do with Software Development? What does this have to do with devSolo?  Well lets just say that Chinese Water Torture may be the best analogy that I can come up with for this past year.  When you are doing the Dead Man’s Float it’s tough to try to interact with your community.  It’s tough to keep blogging persistently through the waves that are crashing over your head…. I don’t think I’m mixing metaphors here.  The drops become waves.  It’s just a matter of perspective.   

I recently accepted the position of “Software Engineer” at a company with lofty goals and great potential.  I am no longer chained to the water torture box and am looking forward to interacting with my peers in the software development community.  My goal for this next year is to speak at (at least) two user groups.  I’ve got a presentation entitled “The Three Virtues of a Programmer” ready and I’m willing to travel.  I’ll post more details on these three virtues with some code examples  for each one in the days to come.

@devSolo is back…

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