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What Jonathan Coulton Learned From The Technology Industry (geekwire.com)
In a new article on GeekWire, Jonathan Coulton explains why he left a comfortable software development job in 2005 to launch a career as an online singer-songwriter. But he also describes the things he learned from the tech industry.
"These guys were doing this thing they wanted to do, this thing they felt competent doing. They didn't chase after things, and they worked hard, but it was a business they created because they enjoyed it. They tried to minimize the things they didn't want to do. It wasn't about getting rich; it was about getting satisfied...
"I wanted to a set a good example to my children. I wanted to be the person I wanted to be, someone willing to take chances -- a person who didn't live with enormous regrets..." Within the first year, he had not replaced his software salary, but had enough success to cover his babysitter and to keep food on the table.
When he was younger -- in the pre-internet days -- "It was very unclear how to become a musician," Coulton explains. But somehow rolling his own career path eventually led to a life which includes everything from guest appearances on radio shows to an annual cruise with his fans (this year featuring Aimee Mann, Wil Wheaton, and Redshirts author John Scalzi).
"I wanted to a set a good example to my children. I wanted to be the person I wanted to be, someone willing to take chances -- a person who didn't live with enormous regrets..." Within the first year, he had not replaced his software salary, but had enough success to cover his babysitter and to keep food on the table.
When he was younger -- in the pre-internet days -- "It was very unclear how to become a musician," Coulton explains. But somehow rolling his own career path eventually led to a life which includes everything from guest appearances on radio shows to an annual cruise with his fans (this year featuring Aimee Mann, Wil Wheaton, and Redshirts author John Scalzi).
huge success.
The songs he wrote and performed for Portal 1 and 2 were excellent. I know you are aiming for humor, but he's a genuinely talented musician and songwriter.
Be nice, Meanie.
Anything you really put your heart into, you're going to be at least good enough to get by. It doesn't take much to stand out from a crowd of people who only do their job. This may sound trivial, but it honestly took me a long time to understand this. I'm not a social person, so getting attention for anything I do always weirds me out, to the point where I interpret it as sarcasm. But there's definitely a pattern: Do something you really care about and people do take note, and that's all it takes.
Yes, he quit his job and found success in another field, good for him. However, most who leave lucrative positions do NOT improve their financial position by following their dreams.
A better, more realilistic article would be someone leaving the software industry, failing, but finding happiness in the pursuit anyway.
is there any article that Slashdot commenters can't turn into a shitshow of ignorance? no? ok. what a pathetic hole this place has become.
i could live a little longer in this prison
More importantly, he doesn't hate his job. Whereas I stuck with my IT career and am completely miserable, but have a very safe income.
Problem with stories like Coulton's is that for every one like him who found some measure of success, there are dozens of failures living on a couch in a dank basement just a hairs breadth from homelessness and starvation. The "follow your dreams" crowd suffers significantly from survivor bias.
In case you are serious:
Look up the following coulton songs on youtube/spotify/whatever
re: your brain
code monkey
skullcrusher mountain
Still alive
(And for something sweet and cute: drinking with you, his most underrated song ever).
Various combat flight sims. Have a soft spot for TA:Kingdoms though it's a bugger to get it working on anything newer than XP.
New Model Army, Pink Floyd, Ayreon.
Don't know how relevant it is to the fact in hand, though. Are you going to tell me they're mainstream or something?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
The geek song performer who wrote the Portal songs, and is generally an indie music darling in geek scene,.
He generally hangs out with some pretty famous geeky icons... did the name dropping in the summary not get your attention? People attending his cruise this year: "Aimee Mann, Wil Wheaton, and Redshirts author John Scalzi"
. . . .but I remember the test of the Geekiest of the Geeks: did you attend an "@Party" at a convention in the early-mid 1990s.
@ Parties were events where everyone had an email address. LONG before the rise of USENET, the Green Card Spam, and the AOLization of the Net. . .
You're not just dating yourself but also revealing your fading memory.
Early-mid 1990s is not LONG before the rise of USENET. It's after the rise of USENET. It's the beginning of the eternal September, the peak and start of the downfall of USENET.
Seriously, are we all supposed to know about him? A short summary about who he is, and why his opinion is relevant for us couldn't have hurt.
The summary pretty well sums things up: "In a new article on GeekWire, Jonathan Coulton explains why he left a comfortable software development job in 2005 to launch a career as an online singer-songwriter."
If you are from a poor background add 2, because you have fewer distractions, because to get cool devices or games or whatever, you have to earn money to get them, they are not handed to you...
I know, because I grew up in a family with very little money.
If you are a minority or woman, add three because there are SO MANY resources around now to help you specifically, and you are a guaranteed hire if you know anything at all. I have seen this in action with multiple friends and family, across many different companies I have worked with...
Can't say you're wrong about being sick though. Stay healthy everyone, health is really the fundamental we all forget about.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The same can be said for just about any music genre. It's not your mainstream pop, nor some jazz great. It sure as hell isn't classical. It's one of the comedy/social commentary genres where the interest is more in the lyrics than in the vocal prowess of the lead singer (or the ability of an engineer to autotune the lead singer into the perfection we've grown accustomed to). Go back and look at the successful social commentary singers of the 1960s to see a somewhat similar type of music. Tom Lehrer was one, Flanders and Swann another.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Prefer Arlo Guthrie. Social commentary with incidental comedy a la Alice's Restaurant.
No, but the Big Bang Theory is.
As a (very) amateur musician with an IT day job, it's good to hear somebody similar made it a success. (I'm a studio guy, not a stage performer.)
Table-ized A.I.