[mminer]

Build more long-lasting artifacts. As a software developer that has primarily worked in startups, most of which no longer exist, it can be frustrating to have nothing to show for the hours I’ve worked. I envy a friend of mine who works as a 3D animator on feature films who can point out the exact shots he’s responsible for and always has a permanent record of his efforts.

I recognize that software inherently lacks the shelf life that mediums like film enjoy, but I plan to at least partially achieve this goal by writing more often, contributing to open source more frequently, shipping and maintaining side projects, and striving to make the company I work for a success — steps that will give me something concrete that others find useful / enjoyable.

[kryptk]

There is an additional issue to be faced here. I did a lot of open source in my teens and early 20s that's still sitting on SourceForge, but the last decade+ of my work is locked behind proprietary walls as well.. So while I have concrete things to point at, I wrote them all 10-15k hours of experience ago and they're all terrible and use long obsolete technologies (Borland Delphi, oh how I miss you..).