Future desires (how Scott Hanselman changed my life)

I often think about the future and what it holds. Thoughts of my relationship, my AFL team and where I'll live are fairly common, but it's my career that holds the most interest, the most unknowns and the most fear.


I'm sure in the dim, dark recesses of history I wanted to be a fireman, or a policeman. One thing is certain though, I never wanted to be a teacher. Both of my parents are teachers and I realised pretty early on that this wasn't going to be my career choice. I even reviled at the idea of becoming a teacher.

Now, having just entered the workforce, I find myself becoming what I never wanted to be, and oddly enough, I don't mind it. Whilst I wouldn't want to deposit all of the onus on one particular person, Scott Hanselman is the chief architect.

More specifically the weekly podcast he does, Hanselminutes.

A 2 hour round-trip commute to work leaves a lot of time for the brain to wander. Initially music was 'used' to fill in the time, but in many respects that's a waste of time. So podcasts became the food for my brain, and it was only a natural progression that I would listen to technology podcasts.

Now podcasts such as This Week in Tech are great to listen to, but I had the feeling that I wasn't really learning anything apart from the weekly news. But Hanselminutes provides something else, something much more valuable.

Hanselminutes provides knowledge and Scott is essentially my teacher.

Each week, I'm informed about some obscure framework I've never heard of, or some a new programming language I've barely looked at, if heard of it at all. Each week is like a small seminar with someone who's interesting, smart and has something cool to discuss. And it's not even always technology related. Easily one of the best episodes was his discussion with Gary Schmidt about living with diabetes and how to 'overcome' it. Truly fascinating stuff, and while diabetes doesn't affect me, or anyone I know (for which I am thankful for), it's invaluable being able to understand what some people have to live with.

Hanselminutes provides a lot of personal brain food. It deals with topics I find interesting, but only on a personal level. It doesn't inform about working as a software developer as much as I would like. Which is where This Developers Life comes in.

Produced by Rob Conery & Scott Hanselman, This Developers Life is a podcast about stories and stories are the source of all knowledge.

I found this podcast via Scott's twitter feed and since then I've been hooked. It scratches the other itch, feeds the other part of my brain. The part that wants to become a great software developer, someone who is respected and admired, but more importantly someone who teaches. This Developers Life is filled with interesting people telling stories about work, about life, but more importantly, about software development in the real world.

When I left university, degrees in hand, I wanted a job. A regular source of income and some experience. Now I want more. Thanks to Scott and Rob I want to learn more, teach more, help more and be a better software developer. It helps that I'm convinced that I "Make Shitty Software... With Bugs!" and that if I don't strive to improve, I'll never be good enough.

People influence your life and career. In this day and age sometimes people will influence you without them even realising it. It's about finding the right people for you.

I'm pretty happy with Scott and Rob.

I'm sure my parents are laughing at me right now, but the best bit is; I really don't care.