Bryan Ray

The problem with creative work is that sometimes by the time people catch on to what’s valuable about what you do, you’re either a) bored to death with it, or b) dead. You can’t go looking for validation from external sources. Once you put your work into the world, you have no control over the way people will react to it.

Being a junior developer is tough. There is a ton of learning that you have to do. Especially when it comes to technology and being an effective software developer. Not only from a technical standpoint, but also on the soft skills and learning how to navigate a team environment or a companies culture.

However, focusing on the technical aspects of things and working specifically with code. It helps if you can pay attention to how you feel while working on your project - especially, when you’re getting irritated. In particular:

My best friend, Curtis Schlak, and I have been working together on-and-off for almost two decades now. He’s been an amazing mentor and friend as I’ve progressed through my career.

Somewhere along that journey, we started riffing off of each other’s resume. Over the past 15 years our resumes have had some pretty drastic changes. He would add a super cool addition to his resume. I would take that idea and incorporate it into mine with my own style and vice versa.

As I’ve progressed throughout my career, I’ve moved a bit up and down the development, leadership, and management ladder. Depending on what the company or team has needed. Sometimes we need more of a focus on management and sometimes we need more of a focus on development. The pendulum swings back and forth quite a bit.

I also realize that as you move forward in your career from junior, to senior, to architect role, and even management specific roles … managing people and working with others becomes more and more important. I truly enjoy helping other people progress their careers as well, their development skills, and just helping people navigate through difficult situations. I don’t always have the answers, but I tend to be a great listener! One of the perks of being raised with four sisters who had a lot to talk to me about, I guess.

Just some random political thoughts that I had during this whole pandemic and drama filled 2020 …

Politics for many people has essentially become a combination of religion (literally) and a lifestyle brand. The religious leaders that they follow tell them - in no uncertain terms - how to live, and that their politics are a part of that. Politics have turned into something that is moralized, and at issue absolutely everywhere.

I wanted to put together a list of things that I find to be my strengths and weaknesses. I’m continually working to improve my strengths and minimize or compliment any weaknesses that I have. It’s never easy to reflect on these things and improve upon them, but I love to figure out how I can continually make myself better! Or surround myself with others who can help me be better!

This is a bit of a long story, but one that I felt compelled to share, because it was an important part of my day.

Tonight I decided to eat dinner at Salata. If you’ve ever eaten at a Salata, you’ll know that the tables are fairly close together. If you’ve never eaten at Salata, just know that their table placement does not take your personal space in to account.

I’ve been through quite a few developer interviews in my career. Some were great, some … not so great. I still remember one in particular, back when I was a young junior developer. I went in to an interview and was absolutely grilled by a couple developers in a conference room. I can still remember to this day walking out of that building feeling so embarrassed. My tail tucked firmly between my legs and a strong disdain for the company and almost my entire profession.

It’s a feeling I still carry around with me to this day. A feeling that helps me empathize with developers I work with as well as developers I interview. And I don’t ever want to make anyone feel the way that I felt that day.

I see a lot of the benefit of Go. It’s “simple.” The stdlib is great. However, nothing ever seems to scratch the surface more than “look … I can start a web server using the stdlib and serve a single endpoint. It’s great!” Finding a good article or book that describes how to organize your (web) application seems extremely rare.

Any developer who has built something of substantial size (small to medium), knows that there are some things that you typically don’t want to do when building software. I’m trying to find out if these are “bad” habits that I’ve learned? Or perhaps I need to think differently in Go?

You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. - Albert Einstein

I had high hopes to actually write something with substance. But alas, time hath crept in on me, like a spiteful theif in the night. It hath stolen my desires, my awakedness and left a poisoned dagger in my mind. Coated with dreams, I fret. I shall strive hard to do better in the morrow.

To be yourself in a world that is trying to make you something else is a great accomplishment. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Often times, I think I take my technical skill entirely for granted. I forget that the things I build “for fun” or “for pay” can’t be done by a lot of people. I don’t mean that as an egotistical thing, because I’m certainly surrounded by a lot of people who are smarter than I am. I just need to remind myself that I’ve worked very hard to hone a skill and some times I take it for granted.

Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat other people - your family, friends, and coworkers, and even strangers you meet along the way.

Today I met a sales woman named, Logan. I’m not sure why I feel compelled to talk about Logan, but I do. Logan was friendly. Logan had a great personality. Or at least it was highly compatible with mine. Our personalities instantly worked well together.

Day 2 of 31: I’ve literally been sitting at the computer for the past 30 to 45 minutes debating what to write about. I’ve been awake since 4:30 AM and, unfortunately, I just can’t come up with anything relevant to write.

I’ve been catching up on the House of Cards series. It’s incredibly intriguing and has managed to keep my attention very well. I’m just about to wrap up Season 1.

Day 1 of 31: My long time friend, colleague, and mentor, Curtis Schlak, asked me to be accountabili-buddies and begin creating the written word with him. Everyday … for the entire month of May. It’s quite the endeavor, but how can one possibly turn down such a challenge?

It’s been a long time since I’ve written, but I’ve always enjoyed it and this is an attempt to form a new habit. One that doesn’t involve caffeine, nicotine, opiates, alcohol, sex, drugs, or rock and roll. Just some good ol’ fashioned creativity, wordsmithing, and a boat load of know-how.