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I have found people like you really useful to know because you have had contact with such a broad range of techs that when I have a problem, I can quiz you and

I have found people like you really useful to know because you have had contact with such a broad range of techs that when I have a problem, I can quiz you and get some killer pointers for where to look next. I wouldn't want you to change, just to find your place in the world and satisfaction in being naturally you. Its like you have pockets full of keys and really good at finding new keys just no locks to use them with. There are other people who have the opposite problem and have locks they obsess over but find looking for keys exhausting, frustrating and confusing. You can be a force multiplier for them. One idea, if you wrote a blog about each new thing you try, you accidentally create something "you stick with" because its about all the things you are not sticking with :) When your attention moves on, its not a failure any more because each article is a success. Documenting what you are doing might also let you spot some patterns that take you to the next level. I wonder if you might find teaching \ training a rewarding occupation. Keeping up with continually moving tech and having a breadth of knowledge might make you excellent at that.

richardboegli 11y ago
I'd agree on the teaching / training suggestion, except make sure you mix it up. Teaching the same thing can become boring.
y0y 11y ago
I love this comment. It may be true that he is suffering some ill-effects of his ADHD (which he describes as being diagnosed with in another comment) but instead of pointing it out like the rest of us you really did a great job of highlighting some of the great benefits of it. I actually took something from this with regard to myself and it's really awesome to know that this kind of thing can be appreciated by someone!
petercooper 11y ago
It's funny you say that, and for entirely related reasons that I work in the news/media space where this sort of behavior can be sculpted into a positive (and got out of being a professional programmer where it's not such a positive). I'd write more but I just saw something new and shiny come out.. :-D
- cylinder 11y ago
  Funny, I have the same issue as OP, but I'm not in tech, and lately I've been thinking journalism may satisfy my addiction to novelty (I never thought about framing it this way, thanks OP). Unfortunately journalism just doesn't seem financially viable enough these days to do all the things I want to do.
kazinator 11y ago
> I can quiz you and get some killer pointers for where to look next. Sure, as long as the quiz doesn't involve how to use something in ways not spelled out in its README. Or issues and limitations in applying it --- also not in the README which is more of brochure from a fanboy perspective. In other words, don't ask, "How did you use that to solve a similar problem? What problems did you encounter, and what were the solutions and workarounds? Would you use that again?" Someone who knows about alternatives isn't nearly as useful as someone who has the inside knowledge to evaluate them in a relevant way (that is bang on).
- atemerev 11y ago
  Of course, I am actually using most of tech stacks I evaluate.
  - kazinator 11y ago
    But, by your admission, not for very long and to get anything actually done, right? Though, to be fair, probably long enough to have something to say as far as an evaluation of the tool.
lamontcg 11y ago
Yeah, I've got the opposite problem. I'm naturally conservative and dislike novel things because I figure they're a flash in the pan. I'm very cynical of new hype, and prefer tested technologies. My enormous blind spot is that I then miss legitimate trends, and I can completely fall behind in the industry. I also find myself not learning new tricks and techniques that would improve my workflow, and have to take time out of my schedule sometimes just to play around with new approaches. I can definitely see how both approaches lend something, and both approaches have huge weaknesses. The biggest issue that I've actually seen with novelty-seekers it that they'll build something based on some new framework or tool--that turns out to be be really rough and they hit those rough edges and get frustrated. Then instead of trying to fix the tool they're using they move on to some other new shiny tool of the day. That behavior can leave a ton of tech debt in its wake.
- twnaing 11y ago
  I am also one of the novelty-seekers. As you mentioned I do really have 'ton of tech debt'. I hope I could change my behavior and reduce my tech debt.
- sitkack 11y ago
  You nailed it with Infiniband by 10 years.

richardboegli 11y ago

I'd agree on the teaching / training suggestion, except make sure you mix it up. Teaching the same thing can become boring.

y0y 11y ago

I love this comment. It may be true that he is suffering some ill-effects of his ADHD (which he describes as being diagnosed with in another comment) but instead of pointing it out like the rest of us you really did a great job of highlighting some of the great benefits of it. I actually took something from this with regard to myself and it's really awesome to know that this kind of thing can be appreciated by someone!

petercooper 11y ago

It's funny you say that, and for entirely related reasons that I work in the news/media space where this sort of behavior can be sculpted into a positive (and got out of being a professional programmer where it's not such a positive). I'd write more but I just saw something new and shiny come out.. :-D

cylinder 11y ago
Funny, I have the same issue as OP, but I'm not in tech, and lately I've been thinking journalism may satisfy my addiction to novelty (I never thought about framing it this way, thanks OP). Unfortunately journalism just doesn't seem financially viable enough these days to do all the things I want to do.

kazinator 11y ago

> I can quiz you and get some killer pointers for where to look next. Sure, as long as the quiz doesn't involve how to use something in ways not spelled out in its README. Or issues and limitations in applying it --- also not in the README which is more of brochure from a fanboy perspective. In other words, don't ask, "How did you use that to solve a similar problem? What problems did you encounter, and what were the solutions and workarounds? Would you use that again?" Someone who knows about alternatives isn't nearly as useful as someone who has the inside knowledge to evaluate them in a relevant way (that is bang on).

atemerev 11y ago
Of course, I am actually using most of tech stacks I evaluate.
- kazinator 11y ago
  But, by your admission, not for very long and to get anything actually done, right? Though, to be fair, probably long enough to have something to say as far as an evaluation of the tool.

lamontcg 11y ago

Yeah, I've got the opposite problem. I'm naturally conservative and dislike novel things because I figure they're a flash in the pan. I'm very cynical of new hype, and prefer tested technologies. My enormous blind spot is that I then miss legitimate trends, and I can completely fall behind in the industry. I also find myself not learning new tricks and techniques that would improve my workflow, and have to take time out of my schedule sometimes just to play around with new approaches. I can definitely see how both approaches lend something, and both approaches have huge weaknesses. The biggest issue that I've actually seen with novelty-seekers it that they'll build something based on some new framework or tool--that turns out to be be really rough and they hit those rough edges and get frustrated. Then instead of trying to fix the tool they're using they move on to some other new shiny tool of the day. That behavior can leave a ton of tech debt in its wake.

twnaing 11y ago
I am also one of the novelty-seekers. As you mentioned I do really have 'ton of tech debt'. I hope I could change my behavior and reduce my tech debt.
sitkack 11y ago
You nailed it with Infiniband by 10 years.