I think most of us in technical careers yearn for a professional experience that brings all the good things together. An experience where, with autonomy we achieve mastery of our craft for a worthy purpose, one where egos surrender to the certainty that only together can we arrive at higher places, one that proves possible what we know is, but can't — for whatever mundane reason — bring to life on our own. No one can.
Sometimes, however, a few can. And then others join in. Slowly and carefully, something beautiful starts to take form.
Behind every sardonic remark about the dysfunctions workers in this industry often have to endure, lies a cry for that mere chance to birth and cocoon something as precious and fleeting as that. That which does not materially exist, that which is just a bunch of interactions, that which ultimately produces but ones and zeroes. Yes, that.
That is what produces great teams of knowledge workers, and boy, will they take you places if you just let them.
Sure, it may get trampled on by the stumpy feet of wild animals, it may not survive a dry season, but it may as well thrive and eventually assert its own imprint on the environment. We owe it to ourselves to be bold. We owe it to ourselves to try, and fail and try again. Because it can be done. If something does matter in the end, this must be it.
Today, for me and a few others, one such journey ends. Thank you iov42 for the ride of a lifetime. I'm forever grateful for what we've achieved together. The screenshot of our last call as a team (Dimitra, Francisco, Guillaume, and Mark) below will serve as its memento here for the many others I could mention.
In the midst of all the hype around AI and the sorry state of the web, I share with many others a quiet determination to build better futures for our societies, based on hard truths, voluntary transactions, and undeniable agreements more than mean-regressive generation of unstructured truthiness and the algorithmic exploitation of the masses. As the tagline suggests: high-integrity software enabling socio-digital protocols that help create anti-fragile organisations.
I think this is what it feels like to have surfed the best wave of your life. A deep breath of satisfaction and onwards to another one. May it be even better. I don't know where, and I don't know how, but tomorrow a new journey begins.
If you think there might be a Vasco-shaped hole in a company you know, drop me a line.