new digs

for most of my life, i’ve considered myself a sailor on the seas of fate¹. recently more of a captain than a sailor, since it’s my ship and i get to decide where to point the prow. even so, one can’t control the waves or the weather. in march, after learning everything i could at my previous port, i grabbed the tiller and headed back into open water.

in the middle of april, i joined Flagrant. i don’t think i have a title, i’m just doing what i do.

why the change?

for much of my career i’ve been working toward a certain level of future-proofing. the things i’ve chosen to learn and practice have targeted financial stability over the long term. i wanted to be confident in my ability to survive for years instead of weeks or days. this stems from a siege mentality when it comes to money that’s been hard to shake and think rationally about.

at some point, i realized that i was sufficiently future-proof and had been for a little bit. at this point, the hard questions start coming up. questions like:

“now what?"

uh.

having recently been a partner in one business, and an executive in another, i came to this conclusion: beyond a certain point, i don’t care so much about money. as a friend once said, beyond a certain point, money is just scorekeeping. this begs the question of what game i’d like to be playing.

if i don’t care so much about my own money, i definitely don’t care about making already rich people even more money. most labor consists of making already rich people even richer, while trying to figure out how little you’re willing to accept as a wage. the technology market might seem different, but it’s not – the wages are just higher because market forces exist.

instead, i’d like to focus as much as possible on using my skills to do some good (while still surviving). while this isn’t a career shift in terms of practice, it’s certainly a shift in terms of focus.

why Flagrant?

i’ve known Jim for a few minutes now, and he’s always struck me as good people. as someone whose services i paid for, as a member of the software community, as a friend to his friends, and as a responsible citizen, i’ve always liked the cut of his jib. furthermore, baked into the Flagrant ethos is the notion that whenever possible, we’ll choose work that accomplishes as much good as possible while still keeping the lights on.

‘doing as much good as possible while still keeping the lights on’ is exactly where i want to be. doing that while working with people i like and admire? triple nerd score.

so Flagrant is where i dropped anchor. so far, i couldn’t be happier.