zacharyc

Note: this is a three-week post because I lost track of time last week. My premise is that most software engineering is broken these days. What I mean by that is that the majority of software engineering is done for the growth of wealth, without a true focus on the ethical impact of the software being developed. No, this is not a rant about how AI is bad; it is more a lament that most of the software I have written is dead. ...

This has been a tough week to review because I’ve been so busy with work. I’m doing something to work every day of the week. That doesn’t mean I’m working all day every day, but I’m always working. I haven’t had a full rest day in the past 2 weeks, and I don’t have one this week. My weekends, when I’m off construction, have been filled with working food trucks and also shooting cars for Authentic Auctions and while this is tiring and hard, I described it to a friend as “good for the soul” for me. I like being busy. I like working on a lot of things. I like accomplishing things. ...

This week was a tough one. Lots of driving, sailing challenges, and personal challenges. There are also a bunch of new projects coming online that we need to talk about. I also had a falling out with a mentor of mine, which really hurt. Several times in my past, I’ve approached people with a belief that is counter to theirs, and they shut me down instead of letting us talk through it. This was particularly painful for me, and I debated whether it was appropriate to share, but honesty is important, so I’m sharing. I’m in pain over the loss of this relationship. ...

More About Revi I’m working on a project called Revi with my Newport Technology Group. This project is really exciting for me because it starts to set up some of the bigger things I have my eyes on within Technology. Building on last week. Moonshots are crazy audacious by design. Some of the longer-term goals for Revi and NPT-TG are more like Mars Shots than moon shots. We need to start with the simple. ...

I recently saw Project Hail Mary for the first time and am now listening to the audiobook. This has gotten me thinking a lot about the work we do. In this book, they are doing work to save the planet. What would be called a “moonshot” or an audacious goal that is incredibly hard. In the case of the book, it is saving humanity on Earth. In my main career, I’m a software engineer. I write code. In my 20+ years of programming professionally, almost nothing that I’ve written is still in use. Maybe some code in Bloomberg’s ADSK, or Factset’s client, might still be around, but nothing significant. All the shots I’ve really taken aren’t around. They were great projects, but fell short of having the impact: ...