Category: work

“So what’s next?”

Posted on by chris

Last week, along with a cadre of incredible people, my time at SkySpecs came to an end. Everyone I worked with there was smart, driven, and a joy to be around. I’m immensely proud of the work we were able to do together. Go hire all of them! Your organization will be better for it. Be quick about it though, they are not going to last on the open market very long.

This does mean that I’m also on the hunt.

If it’s been a minute since we’ve talked and you’re wondering “just what does Chris do these days?” here it is: I’m a full-stack—with a tendency towards the front-end—engineer who is deeply (deeply!) interested in how technology can help people solve their problems.

That manifests in a variety of small ways like “how can we make this interface a joy to use?” and then larger ways like “how can we architect these features to be immediately useful to the user and extensible in the future?”

I got to here via a strange route that wound through content management and then capital-D Design work. All the while I was coding solutions to problems at work. 10 years ago I started a videogame studio on the side with some friends. 5 years ago I finally landed at my destination as a full-time Software Engineer.

For the past 3 years at SkySpecs I solved problems with React, JavaScript/TypeScript, Node.js, GraphQL, PostgreSQL, and AWS. A few highlighted projects:

– A greenfield tablet app for drone pilots in the field to view in-flight alerts and safety checklists
– A new cost/time tracking system for coordinating repair work between in-office and in-field teams
– A templating and automation system for users to schedule recurring work

If you’re looking for an engineer like me, or want to get connected to some of my excellent colleagues, let’s talk!

This was originally a post on LinkedIN. Wanted to have it over here as well.

Inspiration is Fickle. Do The Work Instead.

Posted on by chris

Rely on inspiration for creative work at your own peril.

In this case, inspiration means one or more of the following:

  • The Idea
  • The Spark
  • The Vision
  • The Muse

Inspiration, if it comes, will come in fits and starts and rarely completely. Instead of waiting for it do the following foundational and structural work instead: clean the shop, organize your desk, purchase supplies, sharpen the pencil or the saw, set up your website, turn off your phone.

Prepare and show up.

And then?

What if inspiration doesn’t arrive whipping you into a creative frenzy and drawing brilliance from a deepness within that shocks with raw powerful realness and Truth?

Then you do what you should have been doing all along: you practice. Your art–your craft–requires practice. In plucking out a scale your fingers might wander. In sawing a dovetail you might wonder about trying a different angle. In copying a sentence you might tweak the syntax. Produce something and you’ll find that somewhere in there an iota of inspiration snuck in.

Others say it better

Matt, who is wise, refered to the above as perspiration. To get the result you must show up and do the work. This is extremely difficult. Secreting time and mustering energy is nothing to be trifled with. And in many stages of life will be impossible. Fight for it though! It’s necessary.

Vinh Khoi says it like this:

“I think you’ve just got to do it consistently, repeatedly, and you’ve got to be undeterred by the time it requires and the inconvenience in your life that it generates. But mostly you have to do it in a way that continually stirs your personal passion.”

Do the thing to do the thing

6 months ago I did not have a 6 month old podcast. Not every minute of it is good. In fact, most are mediocre although listenable and sometimes there’s a spark of there that could be called inspired.

3 years ago I did not have a blog that was 3 years old. Not every sentence on it is good. In fact, most are mediocre although readable and sometimes there’s a spark there that could be called inspired.

etc.

Show up, do the work, practice, and produce. Enjoy the flashes of inspiration although never rely on them.

Repeat and repeat.

This post started as a tootstorm. That Tootstorm was inspired by Austin Kleon who is one of the clearest thinkers about creativity out there.