Hello, Universe

“The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”

When you’re in your twenties this is wisdom. When you’re in your fifties, it’s advice. It happens to everyone, life gets away from you, the list of “stuff I know I should do” gets longer and longer. And the longer it gets, the more you say, “Yup, I should have done that years ago.” (See also: going to the gym!)

Well it’s time to take that advice. I’ve been working as a professional programmer for over thirty years. I don’t code because it’s my job, that’s just a benefit. I code because I love it. Always have. It’s a way to solve problems. Need thousands of pages of content for my Shakespeare website? Code. Want to try using AI to make my picks for the football pool? Code. How about designing t-shirts for my line of Shakespeare merchandise? Yup, more code. A little Python here, some Javascript there. The specific technology isn’t the point. Use the best tool for the job at the time.

What I haven’t been doing is writing it all down. I’ve been lucky enough to have steady full-time work in the field for basically my entire career, with the occasional brief hiccup. I was at my last employer eight years, and five years at the one before that. So most of my coding was either for my employer, or for my own personal curiosity. I simply don’t have a lot to show the world in the form of github repositories, or a developer’s blog.

It’s time for a change. I’m out of work now, and the world’s changed. Literally every job application I’ve filled out has asked for my blog or personal portfolio page. It’s time to break free of beating myself up for not already having one, and to start having one. I don’t know precisely what I’ll put here, but I’ve got to start somewhere. Wish me luck.