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    <title><![CDATA[dev-human]]></title>
    <link href="/atom.xml" rel="self"/>
    <link href="/"/>
    <updated>2014-05-07T20:59:54+02:00</updated>
    <id>/</id>
        <generator uri="http://sculpin.io/">Sculpin</generator>
            <entry>
            <title type="html"><![CDATA[Finding the time to do it all]]></title>
            <link href="/entries/2014/05/06/finding-the-time-to-do-it-all"/>
            <updated>2014-05-06T00:00:00+02:00</updated>
            <id>/entries/2014/05/06/finding-the-time-to-do-it-all</id>
            <content type="html"><![CDATA[<blockquote>
    <p>So much to do, I still got so much to do!</p>
    <footer>From the Dutch song "Zoveel te doen" (ik heb nog zoveel te doen!) by Toontje Lager</footer>
</blockquote>

<p>I've been busy my whole life. I'm always looking for something new to try, something to learn, something to make. There's simply no time to stand still. I believe that I have to keep moving.</p>

<p>To me work is very important and I put a lot of energy into it. This is just a quick list of things I do which in my eyes count as "work":</p>

<ul>
<li>Write books</li>
<li>Write blog posts</li>
<li>Speak at user group meetups and conferences</li>
<li>Create software for clients</li>
<li>Maintain on old projects</li>
<li>Create open source software</li>
<li>Redesign my blog</li>
<li>Read technical books</li>
</ul>

<p>You might think that (as Oprah puts it ;) <em>you can have all of this, but not at the same time</em>. Especially if you consider everything else that needs to be done every day: taking care of my family, the house, traveling, sleeping, etc. But in my life Oprah's wise words are not true.</p>

<p>I can have all of this at more or less the same time. And that's because I use the time that's available very well. I'm not good at planning, so I don't know what I'll do next week, but I still get a lot of things done because (and these are my two secrets):</p>

<ul>
<li>I take a couple of hours in a row to get myself focused and get some moderately big thing done, something that I'm eager to do.</li>
<li>When I notice that the thing I'm doing does not work out well, I quit doing it. I pick the next thing that I want to get done.</li>
</ul>

<p>Of course, I'm not a saint, so I often find myself working on something that will not be successful because I'm either doing the wrong thing, or my head is not clear enough to know in which direction I should be going. But most of the time, I follow these guidelines: find a couple of hours in a row, then do what I <em>really</em> want to do. Since I will be happy that I'm doing this particular thing, I will go fast. Then, if I realize I'm not going fast (anymore), or I'm not contributing to the orderliness of the universe, instead only making it more chaotic, I quit doing it. No bad feelings, and no time wasted trying stupid things!</p>

<p>The biggest reason why I'm applying these guidelines is that there are many things and many people that require my time and energy. My family is important to me, and I spend a considerable amount of time with my girlfriend, son (9) and daughter (0). At the same time, I try to do all these "work" things. I find that this makes me focus better and it is why I sometimes say that:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>I get so much done <em>because</em> I have a family.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Of course, this is not to say that you <em>need</em> a family to be productive. But having something else in your life that is very important to you will help you focus the time you spend on work-related things. You don't want work to be an ever-expanding part of your life, until you are spending all your time on it. I believe you won't accomplish much more (you can only work productively for a couple of hours a day). Instead, you want to confine the time you are working, and be careful to spend time with <em>something big</em> that's also part of your life, be it your family, relatives, friends, sports, traveling... Anything at all really, as long as you care for it and it makes you conscious of the amount of time you spend working.</p>
]]></content>
        </entry>
            <entry>
            <title type="html"><![CDATA[Dev Almighty]]></title>
            <link href="/entries/2014/05/06/dev-almighty"/>
            <updated>2014-05-06T00:00:00+02:00</updated>
            <id>/entries/2014/05/06/dev-almighty</id>
            <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Have you ever stopped to think about how <strong>lucky</strong> you are, developer? We live in a very unique <em>momentum</em> where us, software developers, are very privileged.
And the reason is very simple: apart from a computer, we don't need any other raw materials to create <strong>amazing things</strong>.</p>

<p>Naturally, you need knowledge. But you can get all necessary technical knowledge for free on the Internet! If you want to be a developer, it will be just a matter of time
and patience. And practice. Can you imagine this being possible for other generations before you? Even today, if you compare programming with any other activities, I
strongly believe that we have much more resources available for free on the Internet than any other professionals. Easy to study, easy to practice. Of course it should
be like this, since <strong>we</strong> build the Internet.</p>

<p>In fact, programming is not comparable with any other profession / activity, if you think about it. Where else do you create things only from your ideas? You might think about a
writer or an artist, but this is completely different. We create things with <strong>behaviour</strong>. We create things that are <strong>dynamic</strong>. They change, they interact, they grow. Just like us!
<em>We create software in our image and likeness</em>.</p>

<p>And that's not the only reason why we are lucky. Think about how much the entrepreneurship scenario changed in the last decade. Forget about <em>Sillicon Valley</em> and the
big companies: I'm talking about <strong>independent work</strong> by software developers. Small companies, or even individuals.</p>

<p>When I think about entrepreneurship, I think about creating a new software or online service. I could build something all by myself, only me and my computer.
When my <em>father</em> thinks about entrepreneurship, he thinks about factories (real ones, not the pattern) and employees. He thinks about raw materials and shipping.</p>

<p>We don't need to worry about any of this. In fact, there are so many different opportunities today for us, that we don't even need to think about opening a company.</p>

<p>Advertisement (like <a href="http://google.com/adsense">Google AdSense</a>) and independent book publishing (like <a href="http://leanpub.com">LeanPub</a>) are great examples on how you can use your programming skills to earn money
in a completely independent way. No regular contracts, no clients. You have a shitload of work for some time, and after that you can just keep collecting your
royalties.</p>

<p>I'm not saying that it's <em>easy</em>. No, by no means. Working for a company is much easier, because they tell you what to do and you have your money guaranteed at the end of
the month. But if you feel that you don't <em>fit</em> in a regular job - like I feel -, going independent is an amazing experience that might completely change your life!</p>

<p>And a final piece of advice: if you want to endure the <em>independent path</em>, start slowly - don't just quit your job. You don't know yet if this is what you are looking for - like I said, it's not easy; feels
much like leaving mom and daddy's home to live by yourself. Some people won't adapt. Find some time to work in parallel, and if everything goes well, you can make a decision based on real facts, not on projections.</p>

<p>We, developers, we have the power of creation ;) Use it wisely!</p>
]]></content>
        </entry>
            <entry>
            <title type="html"><![CDATA[Bye Coding!]]></title>
            <link href="/entries/2014/05/04/bye-coding"/>
            <updated>2014-05-04T00:00:00+02:00</updated>
            <id>/entries/2014/05/04/bye-coding</id>
            <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>I just wanted to give this a shot. So here we go. I want you to put everybody to think about what will happen on that day that you will stop coding for good. I mean I know that you may say now: I like it so much that I will never leave it. But truth said we will stop some day. You cannot think clearly in the same way all your life. Think of a disease. Yep! You got me now.</p>

<p>My second stance on this is the question: How will you live your life? After giving so much importance to coding and now not being more acquainted the same with other things. Will it feel weird? What will you do? What I want to raise here is the thought of we seldom prepare for the future, and in particular this future, provided we don't pass away before. And this is not just bad news like preparing for a possible death but actually preparing for what is next when we get old.</p>

<p>I remember seeing at a conference I went to some really old people and was thinking: How do they still code? I mean are they total vet consultants? I bet they don't care about good jobs anymore, they just care about their ideas and truly have fun with them. Well that made me think that I too should think about the future.</p>

<p>Our brain get excited with twitter messages and interaction over a PR. Does it get excited in the same way with any other things around us in the physical life? What do you do now that will prepare you for the future whether is bright or dark? What could you do now to help you think clear what you want to do then? And how that can change how you behave or relate now with peers, at home, in the real world.</p>

<p>My 5 nuevos soles.</p>

<p>your friend :) cordoval</p>
]]></content>
        </entry>
            <entry>
            <title type="html"><![CDATA[Hello Humans!]]></title>
            <link href="/entries/2014/05/03/hello-humans"/>
            <updated>2014-05-03T00:00:00+02:00</updated>
            <id>/entries/2014/05/03/hello-humans</id>
            <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Hi there!</p>

<p><strong>dev-human</strong> is a project I've been mentally nurturing for about one year now. A couple friends heard me talking about it.
But I could never bring it into reality, until now.</p>

<p>After raving with complex development ideas that would take forever to implement, I just found out that the most important thing
about this project is not code, or anything programming-related. The most important matter for building <em>dev-human</em>
is <strong>content</strong>. And <strong>people</strong> able to create this content.</p>

<p>So today I'm releasing dev-human 's bootstrap. It took me 2 days to build this base using <a href="https://sculpin.io/">Sculpin</a>, a static website generator
from the great <a href="https://twitter.com/beausimensen">Beau Simensen</a>. I like things simple, and I like to focus on content instead of code, from time to time.</p>

<p>Please have a look at our <a href="/about">about page</a> to better understand what is <strong>dev-human</strong>.</p>

<p>I hope some of you will join me, contributing with your ideas - this is not the kind of project that can be built with one mind only.
Do you have an interesting idea to share? A story? A theory? A hobby? Something funny? Something that sounded too off-topic for your
technical blog? Then please, <a href="/contribute">contribute</a>.</p>
]]></content>
        </entry>
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