better to have lunch and
scared to death than to not have
lunch and scared to death
There is a lot of wisdom in these seventeen syllables.
Today’s Haiku is adapted from the New York Times article, So Long to Tech’s Dream Job By Kate Conger (who has covered labor dynamics in Silicon Valley since 2017) where Ms. Conger quotes a tech worked named Rachel Grey saying:
“I suppose it’s better to have lunch and be scared to death than to not have lunch and be scared to death, but I don’t know if it’s good for you to be there,” she added.
Ms. Grey and Ms. Conger are talking about the days when, “The company’s cafeterias served steak and shrimp, kitchens were stocked with fresh juices and gyms offered free workout classes.”
The things, I guess, that made working in tech, a dream job.
Ms. Gray started with Google in 2007.
Not sure when Ms. Conger started in her field but as I pointed out, she has been covering tech for the NYTimes since 2017.
Almost entirely by accident and by being nosy, I started working in online tech back in 1995.
It was a dream job then and for me, its a dream job now.
And you know why?
Nobody really knows what I do and they are very happy with what I do and they are also happy to have me here to do what I do even though they aren’t sure what I do.
I have long counseled newbies to the field to TAKE OVER and be the expert because NO ONE ELSE WANTS to do this job.
Of course, you can get hired and then go to your new boss and say, WHAT DO I DO and your boss, because they are the boss, will come up with something.
But I am telling you, take the initiative, tell people what they should doing online and they WILL BE GRATEFUL.
Mostly because, the boss doesn’t want to have to think about online.
So you can do what you want.
What also makes this a dream job is or at least was, was the lack of rules.
I did so much stuff online because there was no one to tell me you can’t do that online.
People ask if I studied web design in college.
I tell them there was no web when I was in college.
Never learned what I couldn’t do so I did it all.
I launched my first major news website in the Spring of 2000.
That fall my boss said we needed a way to put High School football scores online.
I invented a way to do that.
A few weeks my boss said we needed a way to put school closings online.
I invented a way to do that.
Oh man oh man, but it was the wild wild west and anything goes and almost everything did.
Looking back through history you can spot jobs like people who can send Morse Code real fast or photographers or the early pilots.
Jobs before there were rules about having that job.
What a life.
What a dream.
I still feel that way.
Of course I never worked where the company’s cafeterias served steak and shrimp, kitchens were stocked with fresh juices and gyms offered free workout classes.
But today I work 5 blocks from the Atlantic Ocean where I can walk on my lunch hour.
I do agree with Ms Gray.
It’s better to have lunch and be scared to death than to not have lunch and be scared to death.
But its best to have lunch and walk the beach.
It’s great to be here.
If I am dreaming, don’t nobody wake me up.
No Haiku For You 