[LAD] What do you do for a living?

Patrick Shirkey pshirkey at boosthardware.com
Thu Nov 11 02:45:06 UTC 2010


On Wed, November 10, 2010 5:08 pm, Paul Davis wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 7:02 PM, Dan Kegel <dank at kegel.com> wrote:
>
>> So, say what you will about Google, but the free / open source community
>> has benefited greatly from their efforts.
>
> and specifically, in the context of this mailing list, google were the
> primary sponsors of dave robillard's work on MIDI in ardour3. would
> the work have been done without google's GSoC sponsorships in 2
> separate years? perhaps. has a lot of work been done outside the
> context of GSoc? absolutely. was GSoC absolutely critical in making
> this happen? definitely.
>

Here in Sydney, Google headquarters host plenty of community events and
provide free food/drinks. That is very handy when you don't have any money
to eat. I use Google software all the time. A significant proportion of my
productivity is not possible without Google search.

I work as a webdev/sysadmin/project manager/support technician/software
developer/mobile app developer/Document writer/DJ/producer/event
promoter/web marketer/analyst/solution provider/blogger/affiliate marketer
and general know it all kind of guy.

90% of my current income is only possible because of the 11 years I have
been involved with Linux Audio Development. The other 10% comes from my
ability to manage time effectively (or not).

When I am overloaded with projects I try to get my main income provider to
pay someone else to assist me rather than stop working on the things I
actually enjoy. I tend to ask here first in case someone is available.
It usually works out.

If I work quickly I can often get ahead of my colleagues which also gives
me some time to spend on things I actually enjoy.

Sometimes I just do stuff because I feel like it. Then I usually have to
catch up on other stuff so I have to be careful to balance that out.

Consequently I do not work well in environments where punching in at
regular hours is mandatory. I have had varying success in larger companies
and smaller. It really depends on the core values of the people I work
with.

For example, do they want to get things done or do they want to monitor
the clock and meet KPI's?

For several years I was a part time ESL teacher in Korea and Thailand.
That pays the bills too. Now I am *exclusively* involved in
web/software/music/mobile development.




-- 
Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd.

"This is the basis of the Bohm interpretation of quantum mechanics, which
requires that all particles in the universe be able to instantaneously
exchange information with all others."




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