“This is one of the harder biases to get over in my opinion, because it means acknowledging our own limitations, and really stressing the fragile parts of the code that we write. We all want and expect our software to work, so we are inescapably drawn to evidence that confirms this desire. Keep fighting this urge, keep testing, and always question your assumptions.”
Jonathan Klein on how our brains deceive us when encountering issues in software development.
“Avoiding burnout is difficult to write about, because the basic premise is obnoxious. Burnout is a rich man’s game. Rice farmers don’t get burned out and spend long afternoons thinking about whether to switch to sorghum. Most people don’t have the luxury of thinking about their lives in those terms. But at the rarefied socioeconomic heights of computerland, it’s true that if you run a popular project by yourself for a long time, there’s a high risk that it will wear you out.
…
What burns you out is the constant strain of being responsible for a lot of other people’s stuff.
The good news is, as you get older, you gain perspective. Perspective helps alleviate burnout.”
It does seem circumspect to complain about the benefits of working in an air-conditioned, safe, not physically taxing office like one does, but man – is burnout ever a thing to worry about.
Congratulations to Maciej, doing anything for 5 years straight is amazing. Running a big and successful web-based company is even more impressive.
7. To constantly remember that life is a fragile and precious miracle which requires all our collective effort to protect.
8. To humbly work to improve our own defects and cut everyone else a little more slack.
9. To remember that being a loving and positive person isn’t always easy, but it’s always worth it.
I’m not a fan of Andrew WK, but I am aware of his work. Put This On – of all places – posted this article about his advice column for the Village Voice. The dude seems to know how to live!
“Herein lies the catch-22 of stress. You get stuck in a feedback loop: you’re stressed, which propels you to succeed, which validates your stress. When you fail, you simply weren’t worried about the right things—you didn’t stress enough.”
https://the-pastry-box-project.net/marie-connelly/2014-March-24