Oskar Dudycz

Pragmatic about programming

Keeping our overachieving freak on a leash

2024-03-01 oskar dudyczCoding Life

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Being busy is not something we strive for; it’s an axiom. Social media are not helping; our whole lives are on the plate. And we’re chefs serving fast food.

We show how we dance on TikTok, we show where we go on Instagram, and we show how charming we are on Tinder. We show how intelligent and successful we are on LinkedIn.

We also show our engagement by checking Slack and work email after hours. And hey, are they really “after”?

Of course, we’re doing none of that to show up. We’re casually elegant and casually busy.

Sometimes, all of that is not intentional; sometimes, it “just happens”, and that’s something to watch for. If we influence others, we may unintentionally boost their grind for business.

You may say you have just 50 followers on Instagram and are not an influencer, so we’re good. You may be right, but… Maybe you’re a tech lead sending emails after hours or a friend sending work-related links to your colleagues. All of that, even if unintentional, can lead to building a false view of yourself as constantly busy. And you may create an impact that you don’t want to make.

I also should be more careful in what I’m posting and how I’m posting it. I’m not doing much overtime work now. One of the reasons why I went “solo” was to get more time for family life, be more flexible and be less stressed. I was almost burned out in my last regular job. So, I know how hard it can be and how important it is to take care of mental health.

Currently, I don’t have full-time assignments. Most of what I do nowadays is related to consulting and workshops. My running joke is that I’m earning money from consulting for my OSS passion (so Marten and Emmett).

That gives me more time to work on OSS and content, as that’s also my job now. Visibility helps to get new contracts. So, I spend more time blogging and doing OSS than the average person. Doing stuff in public helps me to motivate. I like to learn and build in public and share my findings. Plus, it seems to help some people.

So it’s not my intention to look busy. Yet…

Yet, it may look from the outside like I’m busier than I really am. And that’s dangerous as this can cause FOMO and make unhealthy comparisons.

So what to do about it? And what you can take from this blog?

If we want to respond on Slack/Discord/Email in the evening, hoping that someone will read it in the morning, let’s not do that. Just answer in the morning or schedule the message to be sent later.

If we want to share something, consider whether this message is worth it and if it has content besides showing ourselves as busy or grinding.

Let’s keep our overachieving freak on a leash.

Read also:

Cheers!

Oskar

p.s. Ukraine is still under brutal Russian invasion. A lot of Ukrainian people are hurt, without shelter and need help. You can help in various ways, for instance, directly helping refugees, spreading awareness, putting pressure on your local government or companies. You can also support Ukraine by donating e.g. to Red Cross, Ukraine humanitarian organisation or donate Ambulances for Ukraine.

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Event-Driven by Oskar Dudycz

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Through my window, I see the result of good plans but poor execution. Opposite my flat, there is a partially completed construction place. Buildings were supposed to be eye-catching Mediterranean style apartments. Delivery date? Two years ago. Actual? More and more unknown.

Some time ago, I heard that using Event Sourcing makes creating Event-Driven Architecture easier. The arguments were correct, that if we’re already publishing events to trigger business workflows, then at some point, we may want to also store events to not lose information. Agreed. However, I also heard that keeping the state as events will simplify things. We’ll have a source of truth with a record of the system behaviour. This will allow, e.g. to confront the results of the operations with the recorded state. I’d agree with that, with one distinction. It’s easier as long as you already know Event Sourcing.

Many people in the DDD community claim that the essential is to properly break down the system into autonomous parts called bounded contexts. Once we have it, the rest is secondary and will sort itself out. For sure.

Many seasoned programmers speak similarly about new technologies. They claim that they can translate past experience into new technologies. That’s true that by analogy, they can catch the big picture quicker. But isn’t it a bold assumption to say that Win.Forms specialist will learn Angular quickly?

The end result may differ a lot from the initial ideas. I saw the plan of those buildings next to me. Now I can see the effects of the execution. Or actually, the lack.

I believe that we should carefully acknowledge not only the point of view of our authorities but also their seating point. If we want to find out how to form a wall, do we ask an architect or a foreman? An architect may know the theory, but the practice is what we’re looking for. On the other hand, if you want to know where to put the wall, you prefer the architect to do measurements. At least if you don’t want to have the roof falling to your head.

After I had torn a ligament in my knee, I went to two qualified orthopedists. One said I should have surgery and do a reconstruction. The second stated that there is no need for that; rehabilitation should be enough. Guess which one had a specialization in surgery and which in rehabilitation?

People usually give us advice from the point where they’re currently standing. They are entitled to a biased view. An architect who rarely does programming will tend to downplay the value of implementation and tactical patterns. Midlevel developers will focus on technicalities instead of the global system impact. The team manager or consultant will emphasize the importance of soft skills (or esoteric techniques known only to them).

The truth is that we need all of them. The excellent plan will fall on the bad execution. The best execution for the wrong case will be just a waste of time. We should carefully evaluate the advice considering what we need and what an expert can give us.

Therefore, when we’re reading an article, watching a talk, let’s also pay attention to the place where the person is standing. The perspective from there may be much different from where we are right now. That can be good, as it may push us in the right direction. But it may also be misleading, as we accidentally take biases of this person without understanding the tradeoffs. Personally, I prefer to follow not only people from pedestal but also those that are closer to my position. A bit further in the journey, but not too far. That helps me to calibrate my view as those people are more relative to my daily struggles.

Polish historical leader Józef Piłsudzki reportedly used to say: “Right is like an ass, everyone has its own”.

Cheers!

Oskar

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