Milestones

I've come to think that recurring events are quite useful as milestones by which to compare or even rate yourself. LinuxWorld this year is a good example (and this probably isn't of interest to many, if any, people other than me).

Last year this time, I'd just come out of taking care of the eThekwini portal while Brad took a well-deserved break.

I hardly knew Brad then - I'm happy that I got the opportunity to meet him and work with him on KnowledgeTree the past year.

I guess I was in much the same position then as I am now - using the tools that I have to hold off a career existential crisis.

I think it is pretty obvious that I did the right thing in staying and working on KnowledgeTree. It's probably the most challenging and engaging work I've ever been involved with, and has done wonders in terms of proving to myself what I am capable of.

But, at the same time, the argument from last year is the same, and stronger. Like everyone else, I change. Perhaps unusually, I like it most of the time. And one of the things that has changed in me is my interest in meeting and talking to others (from non-existant to one of the things I enjoy most).

I'm not a sales person - I can only talk about what I believe in - but the most rewarding part of this last year was not the work on KnowledgeTree, but attending and facilitating at Africa Source II, and meeting everyone there. Similarly, the past four days at LinuxWorld is definitely one of the best weeks I've had (although, perhaps, it's unfair since I did get an opportunity to spend time with old friends).

Last year at LinuxWorld, it was heady to have all the people around, but I had problems relating to them. In the past year, I've learned enough to approach almost anyone in that sort of environment and talk to them about anything, including entirely unscripted things. While I've been fairly fearless as a presenter for a few years now, the one-on-one aspect was something I still found disconcerting. Now, almost not at all.

And the idea of doing facilitation and other sorts of organising and speaking has reared its rather desirable head again.

I'm at least somewhat closer to understanding what those tasks are and learning how one goes about them, thanks to my friends, Africa Source II, and especially a few discussions with Gunner.

What I want to do exactly is still a bit rather vaguely formed. I know I want to meet people, learn what they're doing, give them pointers on stuff based on what I know, and connect them with other people I've met so they can help each other. I also enjoy presenting on open source in general and on particular projects on either a technical or non-technical level.

I'm poorly located for it, but I guess I'd love to work with the Meraka or Impi or Canonical guys on internal brainstorming and concensus planning and decision-making, and then also on advocacy in terms of visiting companies and talking to people, or manning a booth at expos and conferences, or presenting about stuff at conferences, and then chatting with people afterwards.

And maybe when I'm not suffering from burn-out and entirely lacking any will to spend another second in front of a computer, I can follow through on some cool development and system ideas.