The Zen of Coding

Tao Te Ching, Verse IV: Become Completely Empty "The Tao is an empty vessel, ☯ It is used but never filled." ☯ ☯ I go on meditation retreats to become completely empty. I go on meditation retreats to let go of everything I am not. I go on meditation retreats to rest as that which I truly am. Love, peace, and joy.  Which by the way we can all do at any time. There is no need to go on a meditation retreat to find your true nature or to rest as Being, as peace, as yourself. But they are sure lovely. They blast open my heart every time and every day. Meditation Retreats and Software Engineering My first ever retreat I was obsessed with software engineering (lies! my first one was several years before and in a school that didn't quite feel quite right for me so I didn't go back). But my first proper one, my real one, the one that I go on now - was a week before my first engineering job started. I had thought about and worked on software engineering all the time for the pre...

Tao Te Ching, Verse III: Celebrate Everyone In Software Engineering, I don't think that we should put some people above others. One of the greatest aspects of being a software engineer is being humble and we should cherish this. If we place way too much emphasis on glorifying certain engineers, we take away from the talents of others.  It is for this reason that terms such as "10x" engineer or "rockstar engineer" can be problematic (a lot has been said about this but it is outside of the scope of this blog post). If we place too much emphasis on the glory of becoming a Staff Engineer, then people will not enjoy the journey (or even just on becoming a Senior). Edit: and also a Staff Engineer recently once told me (or reminded me) that Staff Engineers get to code less. Booo!!! This is rubbish!!! What a shame. We are here to enjoy the journey We are here to enjoy the journey.  A former colleague once told me that a crazy-senior ex-colleague of ours once told him: d...

Tao Te Ching, Verse II: Make Your Work Impersonal I want to draw your attention to the last two lines of the verse. "Work is done, then forgotten. Therefore it lasts forever." This ties in pretty well with one of my favourite quotes of all time, which is: "The love we give away is the only love we keep." As a Software Engineer, I don't like to take any credit for my work. I don't mean this in a workplace setting. I mean that ultimately, my work doesn't come from me. It comes from something greater than myself. I discovered coding for the first time at the tender age of 28. It immediately felt impersonal. Immediately it felt like a gift or talent that was given to me that was not mine. Almost overnight, I dropped everything to pursue this calling. I was so grateful to have been single, living a quiet (in its own way) life with no commitments outside of work, and no real social life (booo! we are still working on that).  I was completely free to pursue wha...