I have always seen myself as a stereotypical geek. Kind of introverted, not very athletic, infinitely excitable about the strangest of things, spends more time with people on the internet than talking face-to-face, prefers it even.
And I love being that. The infinite freedom that comes with being a geek is intoxicating.
While normal people have to worry about keeping appearances, about maintaining a fine-knit web of social interaction through a series of carefully maintained half truths, I can just be myself. Because I'm a geek.
People pretending they like certain things, pretending they care about this or that issue, just to fit in. Just so they'll be liked. As a geek I don't have to do any of that.
As a geek I can shout at the top of my lungs "I don't understand football" at the height of football fever during a world championship. Nobody minds, nobody laughs, they just explain the game. "Don't mind him, he's a geek you see, he doesn't get normal people stuff"
When I was about ten years old I couldn't get enough of The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. Library copies were always tattered to bits and that just made them better. I don't remember much, but I do remember one character clearly - The Scientist. He was George's dad or uncle and his defining characteristic was that he was always kind of grumpy and locked up in his room where he was "doing science".
Not to be bothered. Not to be disturbed. Not to even be thought about too loudly. Lunch was often taken to his room because he would forget to eat.
Imagine that!
A guy who gets peace and quiet to work. All summer. In a house full of 12 year olds. That's the power of being a geek.
Geeks - the only people who get to truly be themselves even as adults. I love it! (said with my best Tennant impersonation)
It's all starting to unravel for me though. People are suggesting I might want to "grow up" ... whatever that means.
Just the other day someone mentioned I do a lot of sports. Ironically this happened at boxing practice; she spends 5 days a week there. A person who goes to practice 5 days a week thinks I do a lot of sports ... I have never been so confused.
A few days later I had a call with someone looking for "somebody older" to be a technical lead. An old sage to look over the rabble of Stanford grads he's built a team out of. I'M TWENTY-FIVE!
I hope it's not too late for me. Save yourselves! Be geeky!
Learned something new?
Read more Software Engineering Lessons from Production
I write articles with real insight into the career and skills of a modern software engineer. "Raw and honest from the heart!" as one reader described them. Fueled by lessons learned over 20 years of building production code for side-projects, small businesses, and hyper growth startups. Both successful and not.
Subscribe below 👇
Software Engineering Lessons from Production
Join Swizec's Newsletter and get insightful emails 💌 on mindsets, tactics, and technical skills for your career. Real lessons from building production software. No bullshit.
"Man, love your simple writing! Yours is the only newsletter I open and only blog that I give a fuck to read & scroll till the end. And wow always take away lessons with me. Inspiring! And very relatable. 👌"
Senior Mindset Book
Get promoted, earn a bigger salary, work for top companies
Learn more20% off this week
Have a burning question that you think I can answer? Hit me up on twitter and I'll do my best.
Who am I and who do I help? I'm Swizec Teller and I turn coders into engineers with "Raw and honest from the heart!" writing. No bullshit. Real insights into the career and skills of a modern software engineer.
Want to become a true senior engineer? Take ownership, have autonomy, and be a force multiplier on your team. The Senior Engineer Mindset ebook can help 👉 swizec.com/senior-mindset. These are the shifts in mindset that unlocked my career.
Curious about Serverless and the modern backend? Check out Serverless Handbook, for frontend engineers 👉 ServerlessHandbook.dev
Want to Stop copy pasting D3 examples and create data visualizations of your own? Learn how to build scalable dataviz React components your whole team can understand with React for Data Visualization
Want to get my best emails on JavaScript, React, Serverless, Fullstack Web, or Indie Hacking? Check out swizec.com/collections
Did someone amazing share this letter with you? Wonderful! You can sign up for my weekly letters for software engineers on their path to greatness, here: swizec.com/blog
Want to brush up on your modern JavaScript syntax? Check out my interactive cheatsheet: es6cheatsheet.com
By the way, just in case no one has told you it yet today: I love and appreciate you for who you are ❤️