Month: April 2016

just thinking out loud, Uncategorized 1 comment on When you’re young, you start revolutions

When you’re young, you start revolutions

You’re probably familiar with the kid who sits in class and makes comments like, “Java isn’t a real programming language, you can’t overload operators.”
Well that isn’t me.

You’re probably also familiar with the kid who answers all of the easy questions to make it look like they really know what they’re talking about, and then needs to sit in the TAs office to finish up simple programming assignments.
That’s not me either.

I’m the guy who finishes the mundane stuff early on so that I have more time to fiddle with my own projects. I have 3 or 4 start up ideas drawn on paper, and I’ve actually started building some of them, but what I’ve discovered is there’s really something lacking if you don’t have a group of like-minded individuals to share ideas and to tell you that something you’re doing is stupid or awesome equally. I think I’m searching for an environment like the one that you have created because I’m ready to figure out how to revolutionize an industry or an idea. I realize it’s just not something that you can do alone. I’m motivated by the reality that success isn’t random, and that it’s a combination of good people with good ideas. And I think my see it all, touch it all attitude makes me an asset to a small group who needs someone to do it all in the process of starting a revolution.

Becoming a PM, Uncategorized 0 comments on I build rocket ships

I build rocket ships

I’ve decided to refresh how people see me across various networks. One of those is LinkedIn where my summary is the one I wrote as a college student… which is now almost 10 years old. Here’s a cross-posting of the new, updated summary. I’ll post the old one tomorrow for posterity sake.

I build rocket ships. Let me tell you how:

It’s deliberate work.
Which demands attention to detail.
And it can’t be done alone.

But it’s not enough to just build rocket ships…

So I captain rocket ships. Let me tell you how:

I inspire a crew.
We point to an uncharted piece of space.
And we shoot for the stars.

But success does not come just because you’re brave enough to fly.

So I fill in my journal with adventures that show me the way. Let me tell you how:

As we explore new questions, and find uncertain answers.
My crew and I improve our rocket ship in real-time.
And invite many new characters along the way to join us on our journey.

Success is a difficult finish line to find. It means many things to many people.

So I speak many languages. Let me tell you which ones:

I speak the language of the crew who follow me – to listen, to direct, to inspire
I speak the language of the aliens we meet – to empathize, to relieve, to delight
I speak the language of the ones waiting at home – to validate, to capture, to defend

I build rocket ships. Then, with my crew, we take those rocket ships to unexplored heights. We bring value to those who believed in us, and delight to those who we meet on our journey. The rocket ship we bring back looks very little like the one we started with. It’s faster. It works better. We’re faster. We work smarter. And with those lessons learned, I build another rocket ship.

Becoming a PM, Entrepreneurism, Uncategorized 5 comments on Moving faster than the documentation

Moving faster than the documentation

I’ve decided to hop back into the game, and build a new app. I’m not announcing what it is yet because it’s no where near ready, but I really like the idea.

I’ve also decided to be really trendy, and use the latest in software development tools. This kills many birds with one stone:

  1. Challenge myself to learn a new programming paradigm as recommended by my favorite programming book
  2. Keep up to date with some of the newest, coolest toys on the block
  3. Connect more personally with the customers of the products we build at TokBox to better understand their needs in modern JS development

And I have to say that while I know we have a long way to catch up as far as TokBox technical content goes, we’re miles ahead of the current state of the coolest toys on the block in JS world.

In full disclosure, I’ve only tried the React.js stack, and not the Angular stack. I’ve also avoided Backbone, underscore, and many others. And so this may not be true in other places.

But I’m fascinated at how far ahead of the documentation and developer experience Facebook has moved on these projects. Tutorials written six months ago are grossly out of date with the latest code bases. GitHub issues that look like the problem I’m having have actually nothing to do with what’s in front of me.

I jumped into this world because I saw that the folks at Automattic had done so for Calypso. I figured I’d follow their lead. But I’m getting swamped.

What’s the killer resource folks are using? What’s the bare minimum project that I should be starting from? What’s the Slack channel I should subscribe to to learn bottoms up?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.