This is exactly where I am at...

I am an individual contributor because I prefer designing and writing code over managing people who write code. I ride my snowboard regular but spent time last week riding goofy footed just to remind myself what it was like to first pick-up snowboarding. Most of all I am frustrated with Microsoft because I keep running into carefully padded walls designed to protect people less ambitious than me.

This is exactly where I am at... https://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/01/death_by_riskav.html.

And I am wondering just how short life really is.

Discovered via Scoble who once again proves he is worth reading through fifty blog entries for the one really excellent link that I never would have found alone.

Comments

• Anonymous
  February 01, 2006
  I also find that many Microsoft people have an over inflated image of themselves. So while you may think you are ambitious it probably matters more if other people think you are ambitious.
• Anonymous
  February 01, 2006
  Mike, I didn't intend the word "ambitious" to be the focus of the blog entry. Maybe I should have used the words "more risk adverse" instead of "less ambitious". Maybe I should have used the words "less offended by mediocrity". I don't know but re-reading the entry now "ambitious" probably wasn't exactly the word I wanted...
  
  Also, I don't know you (you didn't leave a trackback to a blog) and you might not know me really well (I don't know how long you've been reading my blog). However, if you wanted to get together over coffee or beer sometime, I'd be happy to talk for a while. Then you'd be a bit more of an authority say whether I’m ambitious or not. <smile/>
• Anonymous
  February 01, 2006
  Well, if you're tired of Microsoft and looking to innovate, I'm sure room could be found for you on Mono or at Novell. =) Jooooooiiin us.... Joooooiin us.Kidding aside, I found that my enjoyment of my job jumped dramatically when I was allowed to develop my own apps and try new things. I'm the first person in the company to start using .Net 2.0. I just flat out started using WiX to do our development and everyone finally came around.Fortunately we've got someone now who is thinking of taking the Google approach to dev and just letting everyone come up with their own projects they think would help.Good luck finding what you're after.
• Anonymous
  February 01, 2006
  I know what you mean. I have worked for a big company myself, and people who like to shake things up are often looked down at. Some people and companies do not consider change as progress. Anyway, I'm still young and ambitious and I can still take a few blows. Life is short, I have decided I will not live my life on corporate interests in part because of this resistance to change and their lack of ethical introspection. Not everybody is ready to act on ethical grounds unless deeply provoked, not everybody gets a job that they will be satisfied with. Anyway, I am tired and I need to stop writing before I shoot myself in the foot. I wish you the best of luck in your career,Jonathan