I was just thinking:
It's pretty dope getting to work on a tech product/team, for a low-tech industry, with folks who have taken such drastically different journeys to get there.
Over the last 15 years or so, I've worked for tech companies. Specifically, tech companies in the open source space.
What happens when you work for FOSS-driven tech companies? You mostly work with a bunch of nerds who share that same passion.
Everyone's open source habits just become normal, everyday expectations.
For example:
- If your PR doesn't even pass linter checks, don't even bother.
- Prepare to have every line you write mercilessly critiqued by countless people, for all of eternity.
- If something could have been done differently, you're gonna hear about it.
- If someone took the time to mercilessly critique your work, it's usually because they care. Rejecting and closing is way easier.
- Spending countless hours reading, modifying, critiquing, and openly collaborating on things that have an infinite number of possible solutions.
- Industry trends like languages, frameworks, libraries, patterns, etc. are common knowledge and on everyone's radar.
- It's more common than not for people to have side/passion projects that they either maintain or contribute to.
In that little bubble, it makes perfect sense; it's magical. Outside of that bubble, where people's tech jobs are just jobs, I'm definitely the weirdo.
At some point, I forgot that. Or maybe I never learned it to begin with. Either way, I've been taking time to learn and grow.
Recently, I've learned a lot. To name a few:
Lesson 1: Not everyone spends time outside of their 9-5, tinkering around with the new hotness. Most probably don't even care; what they have works fine. It only matters when it matters.
Lesson 2: Some people aren't used to the whole "critique it to death" lifecycle. Explicitly ask for the kind of feedback I want. Be patient when supplying it.
Lesson 3: Many folks in non-technical roles don't know "how the sausage is made" or even care. They have no interest or practical reason to. It might not even matter if the sausage is good - it just has to be edible.
The thing I keep reminding myself is that it's all contextual. Situationally, they go in any direction. They're just different perspectives; influenced by different career paths and experience.
Overall, it's been a been a super dope experience. Once it all clicked, I started really enjoying this new challenge of learning more about myself, others, and how it all fits together.
Anyways, I didn't mean for this to be a whole-ass page full of ramblings, but I wanted to share. If you got this far, congrats. I hope it was worth it. 😂