[PLUG] We need more Linux in this town...

[Mike Connors]

Keith Lofstrom wrote:
> Jobs are created by entrepreneurial people who start businesses
> (or who start bureaucracies within government).  They usually
> have goals that have little or nothing to do with what kind of
> software they are using.  They just need tools that do their
> job, preferably with low risk.  
>
> If you can't "get a job", perhaps that means that you should be
> creating them.  Finding a real-world problem that people will pay
> to solve, and solving it.  Then hiring others to help you.  Chances
> are, you don't want to go through that difficult and risky process. 
> Well, welcome to Portland, where nobody else does either.
>
> Open source software creation offers a great path to do this,
> because you can write programs that solve problems and put them
> out there for others to use and improve.  If you do it right,
> you will develop the entrepreneurial and managerial skills and
> the demonstrable track record that others are looking for. 
> You might have to push a broom for a few years while you do 
> the software work for free.  That is, earn the same amount that
> Linus Torvalds earned over the first five years of Linux.
>
> So - learn how to sell yourself.  There are books about that.
> It involves replacing a lot of bad habits.  Once you learn how
> to do that, perhaps you can develop an open source app that
> trains others out of their job-repellent habits.  Programmer,
> program thyself.
>
> Keith
Well said Keith! Sage advice. Stepping out of the zombie worker assembly line and cutting my own path is exactly what I need to do...;-)