SteveFreeman
Unfocussed tecchie. I've bounced around all sorts of jobs from product to research. Caught the Smalltalk bug very late and am now part of the diaspora. At one point I studied trombone to degree level. That taught me:- Some people have been placed on the Earth to do something, like play music. That's what they are.
- Some people do it because they're naturally good at it. They don't get worked up about it and it's a decent living.
- If neither of those is true, then don't bother. You'll get bitter later on.
- Musicians have an interesting combination of cynicism and idealism (maybe they go together). Performing arts can be a brutal profession, but people still turn up to play for free if it interests them.
- Technical perfection is entry level, then improve on that. This has probably ruined me for working in commercial software.
- Both art and science are WinnerTakesAll professions. Most people scrape a living, but a very few really make it.
steve at m3p dot co dot uk