Many cultures have their rites of passage, often a moment where they have to venture into the world on their own in order to forge their own path. I feel as though I had the privilege of experiencing such a rite, but for me it was the post-apocalyptic internet.
Okay, let me dial this back a bit.
I'm 38, ancient by programmer standards and especially for someone who is relatively new to the field. But it also means I was born in a very particular slice of history. As we ushered in the final years of the 1900's, the internet exploded with possibilities. Fortunes were being made overnight, the landscape of commerce was transformed, the dot com reigned supreme, a world wide promise land. Then, as the century closed, we remembered how math works.
1999->2000
Those zeroes were gonna ruin everything!
Once we passed New Years Eve 1999 11:59PM, how would the computers know it was the second millennium and not first millennium back for revenge. Or Something Like That™️, I don't know, I was a literal child.
I do remember the panic though. We didn't have nearly as much to distract us back then, so this was some real Armageddon type stuff. People on television discussing the possibility of Doomsday on the weekend, like a rain forecast. There were multiple books published, programmers were rushed in like medics to fix the issue, and the New Years Countdown was recited in fear.
Spoiler: the world didn't end.
The nerds saved us from extinction and flung open the pearly gates to cyber space. Paradise found. I mean, until March when the dotcom bubble popped, but let's ignore that.
It was during this digital era that my family got a desktop computer. We weren't a well off family, didn't have cable or go on vacations, but I was a homeschooler in Alberta so I had early access and financial support. I can remember it still. The screech of the internet, the power button against my big toe, the whiz of the compact disc, the smell of the warm electronics (if you know, you know).
It's difficult to express the phase shift having a computer was.
There was so much information, so many potential connections, so much hype and optimism. The internet was a creature of wires and <tags> and countercultures and corporations. You could forge your own little block of reality, while effortlessly visiting countless others' blocks.
I graduated and moved out of my parents house (and away from my main frame), while technology exploded and moved into more sleek packaging. As time went on the wires and tags disappeared. The once square, in-place world became a rectangle kept in your pocket. Cyber space was just another part of regular space. I left those privileged beginnings to venture into adulthood and build my lore, still connected to technology in many aspects but only at a surface level.
Nearly two decades later, after finally committing to what I want to be when I grow up and starting software development, I wrote in html again.
<h1>Hello World</h1>
Something clicked. It's still all there. By which I mean, at the core of the internet is the same language I played around with when I was a teen. Stuff looks fancier, there's more languages and products and fluff, but ultimately it is still that protocol, created by the curious and cooperative, that lets us have all this.
I've come a long way in my programming journey and it's only just begun. I'm actually grateful to be learning at the time I am, with so many expansive frameworks, libraries, and tools available. I'm also grateful for the real world experiences and skills I've gained and can bring to programming. But now that I'm here, I feel like I've come home. I found my way back from being a consumer and became a creator once again.
Next step is just to build a career around what I love doing. Should be easy enough, right?
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