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General Programming

14 years

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man – Heraclitus

14 years ago today I started working in the software industry.
A lot has changed. A lot has stayed the same.
Problems still need to be solved, people are still the usual source of them, but the way those problems are solved and how people create new problems have changed.
To stay sharp/up-to-date I employ several tools and tactics

Use a tool, don’t be a tool

I use Code School, Udemy, and Site Point (and others) to keep up on my tech skills with their courses, tutorials, and books.
Things (the tools and technologies) are constantly changing and improving, so as part of this industry I too must constantly keep up to date with these things.

What remains

The human element does not change.

Opinions change, styles change, but the human element does not change. Ultimately software is just a tool to solve a problem. Ultimately design fills the gap between the software and the people using it.

So, while the style trends of today are as different as the styles were when I first started in this adventure, they will be out-of-vogue in a few years. There is still a fundamental human element that remains.

Good design fulfills its purpose of filling that human-machine gap. Great design does so with panache and keeps things simple.

The future

If you are looking for someone that is passionate about the craft of custom software solutions with clean, clever designs I would recommend checking out Benning.Design and if you are looking at entering the software or web development/design industry or want some advice, drop me a line.