Posted by Amanda on Tuesday
Feb 2, 2010 |
Classified as: Development | Sub-Classified as: code, creativity, geekery
People are generally surprised to hear that first part of my post-secondary education was focused on software. Sure, these days I’m more into the front-end UI than the back-end DB, but my heart is in language.
When folks think of software developers, they think of a person that fits into one of these categories:
- Dude
- Dilbert
- Reclusive nerd with little to no sense of social skills
- Left-brainer with little to no sense of creativity
- All of the above
Stereotypes exist for a reason.
“…in order to be able to interact effectively, we must have some idea of what people are likely to be like, which behaviors will be considered acceptable, and which not.”
Heidi Burgess
Alright, I concede. Sometimes, I fall into the stereotype of the drooling nerd who does nothing but play video games for eight hours a day instead of getting my work done. It’s also fair to say that lots of software devs lack the social skills to be in sales or marketing. I can even admit that Dilbertisms exist for an equally important reason: all devs have had the dreaded PHB (Pointy Haired Boss) during their time in Cubicle Nation.
It’s the assumption – I’m a sometimes code monkey and that means that I can’t possibly be creative – that makes my nasty eye twitch come back.
Code Creates Things. Beautiful Things.
Look at your favourite piece of software. I’ve got mine running in the background while I write. Look at the way it’s laid out, the colours, how your eye moves across it, and even the mood it puts you in. UI experts put their souls into that. Designers lent their creative energies. But it was the developers that put all the pieces together.
It was the developers that flexed their fingers and made it all possible. The devs were the creators.
The best example of beautiful things created by code is: websites and web applications. Luscious layouts with exquisite typography that ooze creative juices. Don’t they make you want to crawl inside? Yeah, those are the product of a fellow code monkey taking the juicy Photoshop design and making it a reality for the web.
When I worked as an in-house software developer from 2006 to 2008, I was also the UI specialist. I took Excel spreadsheet mockups and made it scalable for both a handheld computer and a regular desktop in Photoshop and then implement the prototype in Visual Studio.
My job was to take the initial concepts and make them a reality; to create a product from scratch.
And yet, when I talked about my job to my friends, they would just chalk it up to another of my nerdy endeavours and ignore it. Software development didn’t affect them. Real software devs were science-fiction. After all, I didn’t work at Microsoft or IBM or Bioware. I worked for a 3PL warehousing company. I wasn’t creative; I was doing what I was told under my corporate leash.
Every project that I’ve worked on – both in-house and as an independent contractor/freelancer – has involved the combination of my right & left. My 1’s & 0’s. Working together. In tandem.
Code + Creativity = One Rockin’ Product
That’s what violetminded is all about: using both sides of the equation to balance the needs of project by exposing the creativity in code and diving into the logic of creative projects. When it comes to creating any kind of software solution – be it web-based or not — you can’t have one without the other, even if it looks as simple as words on a website or a text-based editor.
You need the creative chutzpah to generate the ideas and the technical skills to make the magic.
So the next time you hear someone knocking a software dev’s creative skills, tell ‘em this: you can’t have the code (or the solution) without the creativity.
Posted by Amanda on Saturday
Jan 16, 2010 |
Classified as: Personal Development | Sub-Classified as: geekery, independence, love
A few days back, I slipped out of my skin for a few minutes to share my trepidations with you. After a brief recovery period, I’ve decided to rip off the skin grafts (pleasant imagery, isn’t it? This is the problem with writing science fiction and horror: I thrive on the macabre and it sometimes *ahem* bleeds into my non-fiction).
Ronna got me thinking about Love today. Not the sappy kind of love that switches your brain off. Not even the frightening kind of love that makes you crazy with jealousy. She got me thinking about the kind of love where you’re sure you’ve got it but you’re not sure you’re willing to succumb to the Dark Side of Dependency.
The Battle Begins.
It would be easy to classify the Battlefield as a rivalry between the genders; I could draw upon old clichés and still make my argument work. In truth, the Battlefield is far more abstract and, by extension, far more complicated. Instead of this being a simple battle of the sexes, this is a war between love and independence.
Stay with me. It’s about to get geeky in here.
Love, the Dark Side of the Force, is passion wrapped in what appears to be chains. Independence – freedom from Love – is the detachment that the Jedi preach.
Love is the variable: wild, unpredictable, and constantly evolving. It thrives on our wild abandon but keeps its chains wrapped loosely around our waists. Independence – or, detachment within a relationship – is calmer but doesn’t press on us the way love does, especially at the beginning. Detachment is where we strive to be once we’ve found our Dark Lord waiting in the wing.
What do we do once the chains start tightening and we’re in danger of losing our individuality altogether? Refuse to submit to Love and lose out on all of its happy shiny qualities? Or submit, in spite of the creeping chains?
Submit and refuse the chains.
Once upon a time Every day, I struggle with this. I consider myself headstrong. Bold. Just a little on the wild side. I used to consider the bonds of love to be confining. I watched helplessly as the girls I knew were swallowed up by Love. They didn’t call anymore. It slipped their minds that we had a coffee date. They became an extension of their Love, instead of Love becoming an extension of their individual personalities.
The chains confused me.
After all, I’ve been in committed relationship after committed relationship for many years, until I stumbled into a dimly lit conference room and met my husband. During those relationships, I submitted, chains and all. The Dark Side may not be all that bad but be wary of losing yourself entirely; you’ll start looking like Darth Revan and that’s just not okay.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
- The Code of the Sith
I began to familiarize myself with the teachings of Independence – the Light Side. It was a long time coming. There’s no reason to smother oneself with imaginary chains when we’re the ones who put them there in the first place. We imagine that because we’re in love, we’re not allowed to retain our Self. But it is our Self that keeps us whole. Sane. Palatable to those outside our relationship. Just as the Light Side of the Force cannot exist without the Dark Side, Love cannot exist without Independence.
If we live inside Love entirely, we smother it.
If we refuse to submit to Love and seek only Independence, we are ultimately alone.
We must submit and refuse the chains. Find a way to keep our Love and our Self.
I love my husband – my Mike – entirely. We’re content to be together without having to acknowledge each other every moment of every day. We are happy being in the same apartment: I create, he games. We game together. We create armies of miniatures to take over the galaxy. It’s a beautiful, geeky thing.
I’m eager to know how you discovered the balance of Love & Independence in your life.
