CompiledMonkey.com

2007 was the most life changing year I could have ever had. I think I’ve been blessed more this year than I could have ever asked for in a life time.

2006
Mid December - Katie and I get engaged

2007
Late February - Started a new job
Mid March - We found out Carter was coming
May 24 - We moved into our new home
June 8 - Katie and I got married
Late September - Started a new job
November 8 - Carter is born

Here’s to a quiet and uneventful 2008!

I’m going to get deep on you here for a minute. People always ask what you’d do if you had a million dollars, or if money just didn’t matter. If money wasn’t a requirement to sustain my daily life and I could truly do whatever I wanted, I would be what I call a lazy geek.

I would sit around all day and learn new things about technology. Now, that’s similar to what I’ve been doing over the past few years, but with a few distinct differences.

1. I wouldn’t get up at 6:30am and go to sleep at 10:30pm each day.
2. I would learn about what I wanted to learn about, and those wants would change; daily.
3. I wouldn’t work 40 hours a week and fret at working 41. Instead, I would work at least 60.

In addition to basically exploring technology that I find interesting, I really think I’d use what I do best to help people/organizations that can’t afford professional consulting. For example, I’d visit a local church and setup a wireless network for their staff, and things like that. Why don’t I do that now you ask? Well, because after spending so many hours each week doing something I may not necessarily “want” to do, I just don’t feel like doing much more technology work. Sounds weird, but it’s true for me.

Given my new found time, I would be able to devote myself to graduate school instead of half assing it like every other working professional. In addition I think I would contribute some block of time to open source software. Instead of worrying about getting 40 hours in on a project I’d have the flexibility to jump into whatever interested me. Who wouldn’t dig on that??

Capitalism is wonderful and all but damn, it really kills your honest productivity. I love my job and enjoy what I do, no question, but it’s not what I would do if I didn’t need a paycheck.

It sounds like I need some form of evangelist job, like Scoble had with Microsoft doing Channel9, but more development related instead of being in the clouds with new technology.

Oh if I could change the world…

It sounds so simple but it’s so very true and a real problem for many people. I can’t imagine how many dollars are wasted in corporate America each year from a lack of employee motivation. It’s obvious that people don’t work as hard or as creatively when they’re not motivated. Most would say that motivation comes from more money. I think the lack of motivation for many, especially “information workers”, is due to the same old routine day after day. Sounds reasonable doesn’t it? I can’t tell you how motivated I can get by an interesting problem or new technology. Screw money, I want to love what I do for 40 hours each week. I’ve found, the hard way unfortunately, that more money only turns into more bills. Thankfully I’ve learned but that’s another topic altogether.

I get the impression that a lot of people jump from job to job after a few years and repeat this process until they see the retirement off into the distance. At that point they get a little more serious about what they should have been since their early 20s; that 401k. That sucks. I mean, you live in a shelter of innocence as a child and wish away your childhood to be “grown”. Then one day you wake up, you’ve finished college, and you’re working 8 hours a day with no change in sight until you’re too old to enjoy it. But I digress…

So when these people leave the employer takes a huge hit; knowledge. It’s no secret that the employees are the companies’ greatest asset. All too often you find that important information is kept in the brains of employees. So when that person leaves they take all of that working knowledge with them and those left behind must rediscover what was once internal knowledge.

So what can be done about this?? I wish I knew! For the employee, it’s hard to reinvent and find new ways to remain into your job. With repetition comes boredom and with boredom comes lower morale. At that point you’re looking for new and exciting work. After which your employer loses that working knowledge you so easily carry in your mind. And in the end the people who really suffer are us, only twice as much because not only are we the consumers but we’re also the producers. Such a vicious cycle. You’d think we, as a society, could come up with a more effective way to run our economy and simply live easier. Everything changes over time. What was once a suitable solution may not be any longer, how has our economic system come to be excluded from that?