Revolutions and Insanity
Few revolutions occur by choice and even fewer are implemented at the optimum time. Such decisions tend to sound as if they sprang forth in a single moment of inspiration. The reality (to which I can attest) is that this kind of change is usually long in coming and even longer in implementing. I can also vouch for the fact that such changes should often happen sooner than they do. If your "gut" tells you something, pay attention. Doing something repeatedly and getting a result is called persistence, but when nothing changes, we call it insanity. Between the two is a very fine line.
For years, I've lived and thrived (to varying degrees) in Silicon Valley; arguably among the epicenters of change and progress in the modern world. Like a virus, our expectations of and demands on technology mutate and evolve very quickly. With each generation, current "treatments" for our ills are rendered nearly useless. Technological hardware has become part of our lifestyle, not just our life. "Social media" has become more of a substitute for being social than a means to it. Naturally, the marketing behind these various tools also does very well at creating need even when there isn't any. In short, everything I learn about technology today will either be obsolete or changed a year from now. I needed to get out of an entire world consisting of temporary solutions looking for invented problems.
Meanwhile, my "bucket list" contains an aging, tattered entry from about 1998 that says "Live in New York for a year" While the practicality of that idea remains as elusive and daunting as ever, I had the option to live near New York. N.Y.C. and I could see each other occasionally on the weekends, when it suits us, and without having to move in together.
Lastly, but certainly not "leastly", my partner of 5 years had already blazed the trail east. Shona boldly went to a new home, a new job, in a new city, 3,000 miles away; and she did it almost completely alone. While I wallowed in pity for myself having to move, I had to realize she was leaving our home to create one for herself. I was simply "moving". In her case, too, the "revolution" was career-caused but it was toward something rather than away from it.
Lastly, but certainly not "leastly", my partner of 5 years had already blazed the trail east. Shona boldly went to a new home, a new job, in a new city, 3,000 miles away; and she did it almost completely alone. While I wallowed in pity for myself having to move, I had to realize she was leaving our home to create one for herself. I was simply "moving". In her case, too, the "revolution" was career-caused but it was toward something rather than away from it.
If one place is pushing you away, and another has beckoned for two decades, it might be time to do something about it.
Comments
There is truth - i often wonder about some of the same issues you encountered.
In my world, it goes like this, it is not about programming in a specific language, but what parts of the specific language you code more with.
Life is not about any specific code or arbitrary argument over a specific syntax of a language, or bragging about the many sleep deprived nights while coding at the startup for the next best thing.
Godspeed Dan, and one day I may write my own blog.