Staying upwind
A quote by Joel Spolsky got me so bad that I suddenly found myself deep-reading the whole essay by Paul Graham.
Another quote from that essay that really struck my mind was this:
“stay upwind– to work on things that maximize your future options. … I don’t think people consciously realize this, but one reason downwind jobs like churning out Java for a bank pay so well is precisely that they are downwind. The market price for that kind of work is higher because it gives you fewer options for the future.”
This reminds me of Joel’s article Hitting the High Notes:
“… That’s why the most satisfying careers, if you’re a software developer, are at actual software companies, not doing IT for some bank.”
Currently I’m on the move from a 2 year long “doing IT for some bank”, entering the world of a, IMHO, very interesting software company.
If I will hit some high notes or get a satisfying career can’t be predicted. But I’m certain this move won’t at least decrease the options of my future career.
