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Making of a professional

Making of a professional

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One never stops learning – that’s a fact I have found true time and again. To stop learning is the most dangerous thing that can happen in your career/life. That learning, however, is often instigated by unexpected events, life decisions, seizing amazing opportunities, or even failures/career doors that close. However, there is also a natural learning as you mature from one stage in life to another.

One natural and interesting inflection point in an young person’s life often comes after they leave college. It’s often a time punctuated by near boundless energy, enthusiasm, and idealism. While that makes for a great starting point, it also has some real shortcomings that must be recognized or they can start sabotaging your career and personal life. Another name for this is ‘Mt Stupid’

One source calls this the transition from amateur to professional, or getting from the peak of Mt Stupid to being a Guru. I have read these (and other) observations/tips given to engineers and to artists alike.

  • Amateurs think they are good at everything. Professionals understand their circles of competence.
  • Amateurs solve the symptoms. Professionals solve the problem.
  • Amateurs think in absolutes. Professionals think in probabilities.
  • Amateurs think disagreements are threats. Professionals see them as an opportunity to learn or share.
  • Amateurs have a goal. Professionals have a process.
  • Amateurs value intensity because it makes a good story. Professionals value consistency because it makes good outcomes.

I have stories I could share on almost every one of these observations – and where I’ve seen it really stunt or even destroy a career when people stubbornly hold to them.

Maybe a topic for another write-up, but currently, I think that the next transitioning from professional to leadership. Choosing the values and becoming the kind of leader you want is a whole new challenge.

Particles, Fields, and the Future of Physics

Particles, Fields, and the Future of Physics

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With all the negativity and outrage peddling, I have been continually and unabashedly curating my media intake to truly educational, growing, and inspirational sources that remind us of the far greater amount of discoveries and good going on in the world.

As someone that went to Fermilab during a high school trip, this video was an awesome update. It is an absolutely fantastic and approachable talk given by Sean Carroll at Fermilab in 2013. He does a great job explaining the development and current state of particle physics (given shortly after the discovery of the Higgs boson).

Most interesting to me is the description of how physics today use statistical methods to generate a very steady march of discovery, and why the CERN collider in Europe is just one of the many new avenues of discovery along this path. Even newer and even more fascinating experiments are being designed that don’t involve ever larger circular colliders but conducting experiments through the planet surface hundreds of miles away and the new return back to linear accelerators.

Automated Sand drawings

Automated Sand drawings

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I’ve seen these kinds of art devices before – but they are big corporate looking things and run thousands of dollars. “The principles behind them can’t be that complex”, I thought. But there are some tricky bits I didn’t think of before – and this guy does a great walkthrough.

Personally, I would likely have shaved off the bottom part of the marble to create a flat spot and put felt there, so you don’t disturb the lower pattern as much. Also, I wonder if a specialized plexiglass would have worked better instead of glass to help hide the noise.

When all is said and done

When all is said and done

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Existential crisis. We all face it at some point in our lives. Did I make an impact? What happens when I die? Did I matter at all? It’s a Wonderful Life is all about one man’s existential crisis. I’m also reminded of the line from movie Blade Runner.

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.

Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.

I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.

All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

Time to die.

Roy Batty – Blade Runer

When we think all the way back to the stone age – one is confronted by so many lives that were lived and never remembered. No matter how much we accomplish, how rich, how powerful we become – no matter what amazing things we do, death and obscurity await us all in a long enough timeline. It is sometimes said that you only exist as long as one person remembers you. Or as long as something you did or created impacts another life. So what happens when that is finally gone? Do I really matter? Does any of it matter?

For me, it’s knowing those even when the world forgets – those moments and our lives are not lost. Even when the last person that knew me dies or the last impact of my work fades – all of it comes with me into eternity.

Because there is always someone that remembers. They were all shared with one who loved me and was with me my whole life. We spend eternity together remembering those moments and witnessing how my actions echo through time – in the glory of perfect joy. For Jesus was with me yesterday, today, and through all eternity – and he loves me more than I can even love myself.

That is where true hope lies.

Pulse – analog animation using glass panes

Pulse – analog animation using glass panes

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https://vimeo.com/498493354

This artist was inspired by patterns she saw in Yellowstone’s hot springs. By drawing different patterns on multiple layers of glass and moving lights across and between the planes, she creates a unique animation effect.

Made me wonder if projection mapping could perform the same thing more easily – but this is a really cool analog method.

Synthetic Aperture Radar

Synthetic Aperture Radar

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Ever wonder how we get amazing, nearly constantly updated satellite maps that can see through clouds and are now even finding hidden cities in heavily forested, unexplored jungles and lost cities under desert sands?

Scott Manley does an absolutely EXCELLENT job describing exactly how synthetic aperture radar (SAR) was developed over time and the principles behind it. By using polarized radar detection, you can even detect how much oil might be stored in tanks. By using subsurface scattering, you can detect features below tree cover and sand.

The part that was most amazing to me is they actually did the original image reconstruction using analog LENS technology.

Absolutely worth a listen.