I've been laid off and it couldn't have happened at a better time.
I know, I know — a little clickbait-y. It sounds like I'm about to reveal all the skeletons in the closet from my previous role, or maybe I found some magical source of revenue that's freed me from the chains of capitalism. Unfortunately, that's not what this post is about. This post — fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you feel — is talking about AI.
The Pattern of Uncertain Times
Starting my career, I've been through multiple challenging times with our economy and the job market. When I was first starting out, I had to work my way through the financial ruins of the dot-com bubble burst. Anyone feeling the same today? Then I was fortunate enough to experience what happens when runaway capitalism meets banking, and it seemed like the entire system was going to collapse around the Ponzi scheme of Bear Stearns.
This time, it's different.
As we all know, while the dot-com bubble burst, it flourished into something much larger and grander than we could've ever imagined. And while I had no involvement or control over the financial bubble burst because of Bear Stearns, it still proved to be a challenging time for that sacred source of constant revenue that comes with having a full-time job. I was also at a different point in my life — fewer bills, less responsibility, and the ability to get by on savings, unemployment, and a few odd jobs here and there. Completely doable.
Side note: I understand that every situation is unique. Every person and household has their own realities and responsibilities. I'm just speaking from my own experience.
Not knowing where your next paycheck is coming from always brings that feeling of uncertainty and dread. Uncertainty is the main driver of so much of our experience in this life. However, unlike times in the past where I felt aimless and was trying my way through a bunch of different career paths to see what fit, today feels fundamentally different. The roles that are available today did not exist when I first entered the job market, and there was so much I needed to discover about myself.
The One Principle That's Always Held True
Both during those times and today, I think there has always been one key principle that I've lived by: enjoy the experience and learn from it. We never grow in our lives when it's easy — we learn from the hard things. Although I can say today feels so much more positive, since I have set up structures in my life that allow me to take time to reflect and understand myself, along with the wisdom that comes from having gone through a lot of different experiences.
The Arts, The Chaos, and The Character
Then came the arts. I dove headlong into volunteering for multiple organizations, worked for weeks every summer at the Oregon Country Fair building and installing art for the massive three-day, tens-of-thousands-of-people festival. I also took this free time to participate in Burning Man, the Fremont Solstice Parade, Isle Wilde, and anything else I could involve myself with.
Of all the things I've done in my life, these were some of the most important for developing my character — working in very chaotic and unstructured circumstances. One of my favorite lines to say is: if you can be successful working with a group of hippies, then anything is possible.
Another critical aspect of my trajectory is that working in multiple different organizations — both volunteer and professional — has allowed me to try a lot of different tools, techniques, and services. This laid the foundation and framework to be successful in each subsequent chapter of my career.
The AI Factor That Changes Everything
However, the one major factor that was not available during those earlier times — where we had to actually go out and search for the information, validate it, test it, validate again — was the wide world of AI. The unlock of this revolution is beyond anything I can even begin to explain, and most of us are experiencing it with a sense of wonder and worry.
I have taken the track of wonder.
I've been doing things on a scale unimaginable even a year ago — including writing this blog post. I use my Notes app on my Mac to voice-to-text my ideas, then add these to my blog post generator and blog platform that I created from scratch. The system sends it out to multiple AI agents to generate the final structured content, which I can post and you can read here.
This is just one of the many tools I've been building. I'm able to build these because I've had a long history in a career that taught me fundamentals about how to create systems people can interact with. Now, I don't need multiple teams to work through the various processes required so you can read this today. Nor do I need a huge financial investment or weeks, months, or years to get all of this right. I can get to an MVP, decide where I want to expand and where I want to leave alone, and run multiple agents at the same time on any number of tasks.
The Opportunity in Uncertainty
Are these times uncertain? Yes. But what time hasn't been?
Now that I've had a storied career and the wisdom and knowledge to talk to you today on my self-posted, self-developed, fully automated platform, I see a lot of promise for the future. I guess what I'm saying through all of this story is: no matter where you are in your career, or if you're in the same situation as myself — see that opportunity and that precious free time to explore your own ideas and projects, whatever they may be.
I'm just fortunate that I really love these tools, and they are opening up a world to me that was out of reach due to the required complexities of learning. This is a greenfield space we are all living in now. And while there are definitely downsides, these tools can be used to produce positive outcomes for us all. We need everyone thinking and playing in their own ways and realities so that we can use these tools for good.
I look forward to posting a series of posts where I talk through what I'm working on. I'll definitely be hosting many of the resources I use — I believe in sharing and helping others grow. Please reach out and let me know about the things you're doing. Let's have some fun together.
Now it's time to log off and go play with my shop tools. Woodturning brings me joy, and as far as I know, there's no git repository for turning a wood bowl.