Slashdot Mirror
The Hacker Lifecycle
An anonymous reader writes "Hacker Benjamin Smith deconstructs the cycle of education, production, and rest that will be familiar to many software and hardware engineers. He breaks it down into four steps: 1) Focused effort toward a goal, 2) structured self-education, 3) side-projects to sharpen skills, and 4) burnout and rest. He writes, 'As my motivation waxes at the beginning of a cycle, I find myself with a craving to take steps towards that goal. I do so by starting a project which focuses on one thing only: building a new income stream. As a result of this single-mindedness, the content or subject of the project is often less interesting than it otherwise might have been. ... [Later], I almost always decide to teach myself a new technical skill or pick up some new technology. ... This is usually the most satisfying period of my cycle. I am learning a new skill or technology which I know will enhance my employability, allow me to build things I previously could only have daydreamed about, and will ultimately be useful for many years to come. ... [In the burnout phase], I'll spend this period as ferociously devoted to my leisure activities as I was to my productive tasks. But after a few months of this, I start to feel an itch...'"
It's more like
1) Yay, a new project!
2) Yay, I learn stuff!
3) Ok, let's start implementing.
4) Bah, it's trivial, it's boring.
It's really hard to motivate me to do something trivial. Sadly, that's also what works is like in most areas. You do stuff you already know quite well. And that is just simply boring.
I guess I suffer more often from bore-out than burnout.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
You are the noob because you don't know what financial independence means. It isn't about having as much money to do whatever you want, it is about having enough that you will be "secure" regardless of the other circumstances of your life. And if you have a family then security for them as well.
1. First come basic survival needs - shelter, food, clothing
2. Then basic "emotional fulfillment" needs - communication, entertainment (internet, in person socialization, access to common culture).
3. And finally, after the personal needs are met, the opportunity to contribute to a chosen cause or idea that the individual deems as worthwhile. Working so some executive can afford more hookers and blow, or so stockholders get a bigger dividend is not my personal choice for a worthy cause but I understand that others don't feel the same way.
Sadly on this planet only a relatively small percentage of people get past phase 1. In the "developed" world only a handful, mostly who inherit their wealth, make it past stage 2.
"Joy" as you put it is difficult to truly experience when you know you are one accident away from being jobless and then homeless. Doubly so if you are providing for a family.