Month: November 2020

Three Life Lessons From: My second job

andflow Uncategorized Tags: , , 2 Comments

My next gig was one-year as a software analyst on a small team for a federal contractor. This was my “big step” job because I finally broke into the IT industry. I knew software was eating the world and I wanted a place at the table.

The differentiator in the hiring process was not my computer science experience. That’s good, because I barely made it through Computer Science 101. Rather, the key was my major in Philosophy, because one huge task would be teaching users how to use our software. My manager thought my communication skills would be a good fit. I am grateful for her trust!

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
  1. I learned what Software-as-a-Service is (SaaS). There are products and services, which are typically viewed separately. However when a software product and corresponding customer support enables a process to happen, the result is SaaS, encompassing the product and services that makes the process happen. This was important to understand because most IT companies seem to be SaaS companies.
  2. I learned about the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). I learned how software goes through a process of creation, from problem to design to requirements to development to testing to delivery to support to training, and repeat. Typically this process happened one at a time as a Waterfall, but the new Agile methodology smushed everything together, reducing scope, time, and cost to bite-sized chunks. Even if I’m in Sales, now I know what I’m selling: not a static widget, but a growing widget.
  3. I learned about the differences in style and work-life balance of other team members. Some people go hard 25 hours a day. Some people clock out at 5pm to spend time on things outside of work. Then there are many people in the middle. I learned that every style is ok, and that the job of a manager is to ensure that a team can operate well together even with all these differences. I also learned that my own style does not work for everyone else just because it’s my style.

These lessons have helped me to develop my career and dive deeper into software advisory projects and teams.

The new school model: Learn-Streaming in three steps

andflow Uncategorized Tags: , , Leave a comment

Live-streaming is a growing pastime of all generations. It launched with video-games on Twitch, but now there are livestreams of any activity like ballot-counting or night sky-gazing.

This new medium gives rise to a possibly new and better learning model, which could be called “Learn-Streaming.”

  1. Livestream my learning
  2. Teach someone else what I learned
  3. Condense the results into a short summary
  1. Learn by myself while live streaming my progress and talking to the community to learn the new thing. This could be a video game, mathematics, cooking, anything.
  2. Call on a lucky community member and teach them my learnings while live streaming this progress to get live feedback. Teaching something is the best way to learn it.
  3. Number three. Create a concise, refined summary of my learnings in the form of a short video or blog post for others.

The old learning model skips to #2 or even #3.

With the new learning model, we can watch the progress of people striving to gain mastery in real-time. We can see how long it takes to do step #1 and how many mistakes that amateurs make to become masters. Instead of splicing the movie montage in between the entertaining bits, we can now see the blood, sweat, and tears from hard work.

This process ultimately benefits others who struggle with failure in step #1. It reassures those who need more patience to learn slowly and foolishly. Slowly and foolishly is how to learn. There is no skipping of steps #1 and #2.

All credit to FollowGrubby via Youtube Channel

FollowGrubby (Grubby) is a Dutch gamer who made it big while playing Warcraft III. Now, his occupation is live-streaming video games for hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of views while receiving donations and subscriptions. He serves as a great example of the learning model. Imagine you want to become a better Warcraft III player. I’d recommend to Grubby for three types of content:

  1. Livestreams of his video games, testing, and practice on Twitch. He watches a replay after every game, analyzing his mistakes and improving.
  2. Long recording of the livestream of teaching the basics (2 hours).
  3. Short, sweet, quick videos showing the results of all the learnings (20 minutes).

How far to follow your passion

andflow Present Tags: , , Leave a comment

Many people say to follow your passion. But how far?

I don’t think everyone is meant to follow their passion to its conclusion. Instead, we often need to do things that we don’t enjoy or that wouldn’t be our first choice. I don’t think anyone sets out to try to clean toilets as their primary job.

But that’s ok! Because you can use your passions creatively in many types of work. And these skills can be invaluable in that other line of work.

Photo by Kael Bloom on Unsplash

For example, I love coaching. But my job title does not say
“coach.” Instead, I use coaching methods in my work. I market myself as a software consultant and account manager with coaching skills. As a result, this coaching makes our team more effective.

I also enjoy music. But I don’t make my primary occupation about creating or listening to music. Instead, I do employ artistic methods in my work.

For example, in a proposal, I include musical elements in the structure to make it flow. Similar to a song, the presentation builds with verses as supporting evidence into a repeating chorus as the main argument. These ideas work in harmony, just like in music.

So, if you like coaching or music, you can pursue those as primary passions. But remember that these skills are invaluable in other areas of work that you wouldn’t think of!

Many Ways to Love, but Only One Right Way – The Symposium by Plato – OGB #6

andflow OGB Tags: , , Leave a comment

In Plato’s The Symposium that we read for the Online Great Books seminar, ancient Greek partygoers choose not to drink the night away, again (text is translated by Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff). Instead, these philosophers and tragedians and comedians have a friendly competition: everyone gives their own praise of love. But whose idea of love is true?

Photo by Heshan Perera on Unsplash

After hearing from five others, Socrates goes last. Though his explanations are usually complicated, his praise of love seems most rooted in truth and reality.

DISCLAIMER: I am no Plato scholar. This interpretation is compelling and is open to debate. And also, note that normal intimate relations in ancient Greece look a bit different than today.

Here is a summary of the six speeches, each of which builds on ideas as they respond to the previous speaker:

  1. According to Phaedrus, there is one type of love, which is virtuous and good.
  2. According to Pausanias, there are two types of love: good since it aims to obtain virtuous, soulful things. But the other kind of love is bad since it is shallow, bodily, and uncommitted.
  3. According to Eryximachus, love is the balance and harmony between bad and good love. The virtue of love depends on how the lover controls the direction of love.
  4. According to Aristophanes, love is the desire by one half to its missing other half. Humans were split from one being into two parts. And love is the force driving one to find its counterpart.
  5. According to Agathon, love is simply the best of all good things, including young, delicate, just, moderate, and brave.
  6. According to Socrates, love is a spirit that compels us on a journey to produce immortality by appreciating higher levels of beauty. The lowest level of love is for one beautiful body. The quest for immortality here results in human children. Then the smart person will grow that love of one body into all beautiful bodies. This love grows into a love of beautiful souls, then beautiful customs and activities, then beautiful knowledge. At this stage, the quest for immortality combines the person with beautiful knowledge into birthing good ideas. The highest level is an appreciation of Beauty in its pure form, the essence without grounding in time, space, or example. A person attains the highest level of love and immortality by beholding Beauty and birthing true virtue.

After Socrates’s speech, Alcibiades, the comedian, comes in, drunk from partying. He squeezes himself between Socrates and Agathon as they were flirting. He tells a story that serves as proof to which to test the accuracy of the love speeches.

Alcibiades describes the love that overcame him for handsome Socrates, which became lust for body and power. Socrates rebuffed the attempts until he explained the Alcibiades’s beauty wasn’t enough for Socrates’s offer and pursuit of pure wisdom. He admitted his love to Alcibiades, but Socrates didn’t give in to any seductive advances. Now, Alcibiades often erupts in a jealous rage while still lusting for Socrates’s good looks. But Alcibiades has learned to respect Socrates’s natural character, moderation, and fortitude. He also appreciates Socrates’s ideas and knowledge as the best way to become good.

This story makes sense. Assuming the story is true, let’s put it through the six ideas of love:

  1. Phaedrus’s love is not true because Alcibiades’s love changed forms.
  2. Pausanias’s love is not true because Alcibiades maintained two types of love at once.
  3. Eryximachus’s love is not true because Alcibiades was not in control of the direction of his love.
  4. Aristophanes’s love is not true because Alcibiades and Socrates had a love for each other, but the drives were not compatible as expected from two halves meeting.
  5. Agathon’s love is not true because Alcibiades’s love drives him to appreciate something better than love itself.
  6. Socrates’s love makes the most sense. Alcibiades started with love aimed at Socrates’s good looks. But he then climbed the ladder of love to now appreciate higher levels of beauty: Socrates’s soul and knowledge. Alcibiades’s love itself was not good, but it compelled him on a path to enjoy pure Beauty and produce the good.

Alcibiades puts is best:

If you were to listen to his arguments, at first they’d strike you as totally ridiculous… If you are foolish, or simply unfamiliar with him, you’d find it impossible not to laugh at this arguments. But if you see them when they open up… if you go behind their surface, you’ll realize that no other arguments make any sense. They’re truly worthy of a god, bursting with figures of virtue inside. They’re of great–no, of the greatest–importance fo anyone who wants to become a truly good man.

The Symposium, p. 503

The Symposium is a masterful story rich with profound ideas. But only Socrates’s concept of love emerges as the victor in the battle for truth.

Three Life Lessons From: My first job

andflow Past Tags: , , Leave a comment

When I graduated from school, I had no clue what my occupation would be. I spent six months applying to 30+ jobs in software before getting one interview.

While I was applying, I worked part time as a waiter at a local restaurant. I learned some valuable things there:

Photo by Yong Chuan Tan on Unsplash

1. A transaction is an exchange of value, but value comes in many forms. In a restaurant, a customer pays for more than food. They pay to relax. They pay to choose what they want. Or, they pay to not need to choose. They pay to feel empowered. This lesson is important because I am now more open-minded about why people pay for things. People don’t just pay for a widget. They get value from how that widget makes them feel.

2. Empathy leads to a glass half full perspective. Opening my first wine bottle at a table was the most nerve-wracking thing ever. My hands shook as I spilled wine on the table. Another time, I tripped while walking a tray of water glasses out to the patio. The whole thing drenched a man with his kids. But in both cases, instead of responding with anger, the customers gave empathy. They were patient and understanding. They didn’t dig their nails into the obvious mistake I had made. I actually ended up having nicer, longer conversations with them. On the other hand, there were other customers who found any tiny thing about which to complain. They treated me like a servant to deliver their messages to the kitchen and get some free meals. These people went in with negativity and dragged everyone through the mud to fill their agenda. These people were simply forgettable.

3. The boss sets the tone in a business. The general manager dictated the sentiment of the employees. When he cracked open a bottle of scotch to celebrate after a busy Saturday, the mood was high. When he snapped at waiters for their mistakes, everyone else got tense and bickered at each other. The engine driving us to work came from the culture we shared. This culture came from mostly the tone of the boss.

In the end, restaurant work was not for me. I ended up working at another restaurant part time a few years later, which took my learnings to a whole different level.