Log
There is a certain hacker-y, diy aesthetic in websites and software that I tend to like. Stuff like this usually feels like it’s plaintext, even when it’s not actually. The design is simple and feels like a basic text file but the UX is good and modern, just not the “modern” that tends to mean gimmicky and bandwagony.
I wonder how I could go about making a living working with this type of design and software, but for “normal” people, not just developer and sysadmin and geeky types. I love geeky types, but I’m not sufficiently geeky to feel really at home in that world. I can speak the language, but it’s not my native tounge.
I do think that the remedy for the highly polished, psychologically tuned exploitation machines that are modern phones and computers and apps is this type of diy, hacker ethos. The design, the aesthetic is a part of that, and I think an important part. Design can manifest the philosophy behind software, so something that looks plaintext, does work in a simple, robust way with plaintext files and folders (ala Unix/Posix) but has a well thought out, considered UX for people who aren’t willing to learn the weird logic of computers to use them is the way to go.
I hope at some point I’ll find a way to start working with this type of stuff, it feels more authentic to me rather than the modern polish and enterprise complexity.
This is the future of personal computing, if we make it. I want to make it.
Well, anyways.
I might need to learn or get better at some things. That’s true in general always, of course, but I am it that late nigth modd once again where I think about going indie, or starting a business. And if I want to eventually start a business, I need to both focus on my existing strengths and build up some new skills to complement them.
My job that I just started in recently seems to be collapsing soon, so I’m thinking about what business to start and how, as I usually do in turbulent times.
The question is what to focus on that gives me the most valuable skills when it comes to starting something new and hopefully profitable. I read through the website of 37signals, the makers of, among other things, Basecamp again. I’ve known about them for a long time, and have often found inspiration in their designs and products. Reading their website and ethos now makes me want to get back into the software/SaaS world. I am nostalgic for the time in the mid 2010s that I worked at an SaaS company and used to feel like this type of business was the futre. Those were the times of Nomadlist, Basecamp, Slack and the like. Software was eating the business world, the big players restricted themselves to building OSs and office suites, the field was open and VC money was everywhere. In those days I dreamt about starting a software business, an indie studio or something similar, building a niche, well designed product and building a digital nomad life funded by it.
On nights like tonight I feel that old hopefulness that anything is possible and well designed, well built, simple apps hold the key to the future, or at least my future.
My thinking has changed since then of course, as has the industry. Web apps are nothing new, we’ve learned that not everyone always has a fast, stable internet connection and the internet is about advertising and endless feeds now. A good idea is nothing without good, stable, long lasting implementation. Data is fragile, the field is pretty saturated and there is much less money to be had for free after the post-Covid correction of the software development industry.
There are still people thinking like we used to though. I just recently heard about a friend of a friend in Hungary that is building an AI-driven app for municipal governments to analyze and synchronize local statutes. When I heard about that, I felt that old excitement of a good idea and a solo developer building it from his bedroom.
I have learned about the importance of not just building, but also selling stuff since then.
All this is to say that I’m sitting here, late at night, and I’m thinking about starting a Ruby on Rails course again. From my past research it seems like the best option for an indie developer for building web app based businesses, an all-in-one tool to cover every need, with good performance, a solid, stable dev environment. Plus 37signals not only uses it but created it, so it feeds my daydreams of building something like they did, on a smaller scale.
Well, anyways.
It’s been such a long time since I’ve written here. I feel pretty overwhelmed with just everyday life and work. On paper of course I shouldn’t feel that way. Things are fine. I have a job that’s not too intense, with some flexibility in when I come and leave. I don’t make a lot, but I do make enough to cover the bills and have some left for having an expensive coffee every once in a while. In June I’ve went out to photograph protests a few times, went abroad for a couple days and have even taken the month off from my second job.
And yet. Coming home at the end of the day I feel exhausted, I don’t have the bandwidth to really talk or think about other things. I miss my solo café sessions where I would sip on a capuccino and think or journal or edit photos for a few hours in the middle of the day. I think it’s not the total amount of work and obligations, but the number of little things I need to get into and get done quickly. I am prepping for a group exhibition with my photo collective and even that feels like a chore.
I’m in project mode or sprint mode constantly. That’s nothing new, I’ve been like this for as long as I can remember. This is what I’m used to and also I think this is what comes naturally to me. I have a project, I know that I need to push until it’s done, and then I’m free from it. It’s been years since I’ve had a regular job and even then it didn’t work well for me. With a regular “dayjob” the paradigm is different. You don’t need to push towards the finish line, because there is no finish line, the job just keeps going on. You just stop and then pick up the next day. That’s not a mode I’m familiar with and I think that might be part of the problem: I stay in the office longer than I need to, because I have the subliminal sense that if I give the task one last push, I’ll be done with it and will be free. But that’s not the case. I’ll need to go to work the next day just the same, and there’ll be a new task waiting for me.
This is not sustainable like this. I need to find a way to shift my perspective, to approach work more as maintenance: something you do every day, on repeat, something that never finishes. I need to be able to just get up and go home without feeling guilty, knowing that I’ll be back the next day and that whether I finish something today or tomorrow makes no difference.
Well, anyways.