Two Roads, and a Third

I caught up with some former colleagues this week, and one of the questions that came up was, “What would you do if you could have any job you wanted?” I have two answers:

1. A “scholar in residence” position where I spend my time connecting people, mentoring junior colleagues and their projects, and generally trying to nudge the world (or at least my corner of our profession) in a slightly healthier direction. I’ve always enjoyed this, and while The Architecture of Open Source Applications and It Will Never Work in Theory didn’t become what I hoped they would, other ideas might.

2. A mid-level developer position building software for scientists. I say “for scientists” because it’s so rewarding, “building” because I miss being neck-deep in code, and “mid-level” because I’d really like to learn a few of the things that slid by me over the past twenty years. Gleam? htmx? Marimo? Terraform? It wouldn’t really matter as long as I felt every day that I understood something I hadn’t understood the day before.

I don’t think I could combine these two roles because I always put programming to the side if I’m managing and networking. I also think that it would be easier for me to get the first role than the second: our industry doesn’t know what to do with people who want to take (what is viewed as) a step down in their career for personal satisfaction.

The most surprising thing is that “teaching full-time” isn’t on my list for the first time in two decades. I built a tutorial on SQL earlier this year, and started on three others, but it feels a bit like wandering the halls in my old high school. I don’t know anything well enough to teach it that I didn’t already know ten or fifteen years ago; while there’s a lot to be said for playing the standards, my daughter will be moving out in a few months to start college, and I need to find something to occupy my mind when she does.

p.s. one other thing I’d put on the wish list is an office within cycling distance. I miss being able to grab a coffee with my co-workers once or twice a week…