A message to “10-Years Ago me”

This note probably is going to sound pretty sappy, but I wouldn’t want to know too much about what happens or I would have missed out on some great times. I hate failure, but sometimes the path to failure is worth it. And sometimes you hate that people know what you have gone through in your life and you don’t want to sound like you are whining.

So here goes:

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Prepare for, but don’t worry about things you can’t do anything about.

No matter how many plans you are going to make, they can change in a minute. You are not really in control of as much as you think you are or want to be. Budgets, health, and so much more can get in the way, and you can be recovering physically or mentally from something that occurs in your life but don’t stop trying to achieve great stuff.

Don’t be afraid to take chances because you are worried that those chances won’t pay off. Sometimes they won’t Just work hard and do everything you can. Strive to be the best YOU you can be. You can either be miserable looking for the negative to occur or get the most out of the time you have in a situations and deal with a few valleys here and there.

While I won’t tell you what these successes and failures are, there will be plenty of each. Don’t let success make you pompous, and don’t let failure make you overly fearful. Just smile, care about people, and share your knowledge as much as you can.

Just keep doing what you are doing in data because the things you will achieve never stop increasing, at least not for long.

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A message from “2035 me”

For 30+ years, I have made my career being conservative with what I have learned. I don’t think I will ever want to change that. Mostly because each revolution in this industry has always turned into a reasonable progression after the hype dies down.

Being calm when there is a storm keeps you safe for when the wind and rain is gone…and you have to fix things. Clearly just a metaphor, because I can’t fix physical stuff anymore 🙂

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Stay the course, sometimes the waters are rough, but as you know, you learn from the beginning, middle, and even end of journeys.

Never stop learning, but also never forget that relational databases have been around for well over 50 years here in 2035 for a reason. They make sense for so many different projects. You will be amazed at how far they have come in the next 10 years, while still being largely centered on those 13 rules from Edgar Codd and those who followed.

But I tell you what, you are going to be amazed how different the entire ecosystem is (much like I remember being back in 2025, just like 2015 and 2005 for that matter.)

I remember 10 years ago when you are reading this. AI was just getting started and the cloud was leveling off and really understanding its place.

The fact is, that is still happening, plus some other new surprises… but SELECT FROM WHERE is still amongst the most typed data-oriented code. When AI use leveled, that was when it really started to get good as a business tool. When the hype died, it was really understood what it was and how it can be used, it wasn’t death, it was the real start.

AI never really replaces all that many people long-term, because it was never intelligence. It has however made everything continue to move faster and faster with exponential growth in what we can do. Thankfully the terrifying science fiction of the day is still the science fiction of today. We are all still concerned that the machines \robots will take over, and the machines still don’t care and do what they are told.

You are going to have chances to do some amazing things. Just like that letter you sent yourself back through time, I will give you the same advice. Don’t be afraid. Fear is the thing that makes life intolerable, waiting for the end. And hey, you apparently have lived at least another 10 years well enough to be able to send time-traveling messages, so it can’t be all bad 🙂

Oh, and it takes a while, but your podcasts finally catch fire…other than the ones on data quality…that’s just as bad now as it was then, just in larger quantities.

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Summary

Yes, I am boring in my predictions for the future, and I am pretty much glad I was boring in my career.

The fact is, I have always been pragmatic in my approach to life in most all aspects. I have worked for a non-profit for 25 non-contiguous years for a reason. The mission, the people, and for comfort. Not intellectual comfort but rather comfort in the knowledge that the people and place I work for were awesome. It is why I am taking the time to write this blog for that matter.

I have also known that loyalty in employment is fleeting. And while I crave comfort, I also crave a challenge. I am not really very risk loving, and hence that one piece of advice I wish I could make myself believe is that worrying for even a year about an outcome you can’t control is folly.