I would like to:

• To write graphics and visualization code
• To author elegant APIs and code
• To work in an area requiring both technical and aesthetic understanding
• To have my daily contribution significantly impact the success or failure of a project
• To constantly teach and learn from others inspired by similar goals
• To do the above and somehow generate enough income to live comfortably

As I work for a while doing some moderately interesting work, I’m trying to figure out how to make this happen.  I do not know exactly how to make this happen, but I know I have a lot of work to do before I will wake to find myself in a position like the above.

Seeing an awesome blog post like over at Codeflow demonstrating WebGL GPU Landscaping and Erosion, reminds me in both inspiring and daunting ways how much I need to do to make my work into the kind of work that I admire.

I know I need to do…

If I wish to work on graphics and visualization, I need to produce more impressive results.  I need to do this visibly.  That, in practical terms, means using the web.  I do not want to abandon LxEngine by any means – but I think I need to start working with  WebGL and produce immediately demonstrable results.  No one is willing to download something they don’t already want these days.

If I wish to work in an area requiring both technical and aesthetic understanding, I need to improve the design of this site.  This site suffers seriously from programmer design.  It needs proper design: as in a studied design, not merely “something that I thought looked okay.”  I cringe in imagining a professional designer’s feedback on this blog design.  It is currently the result of a programmer learning WordPress, CSS, and HTML and experimenting directly on the site.  I need to redesign this blog theme. The wiki could use some work as well.

If I want to write elegant APIs and code, that means I need to write complete code.  I need to aim for smaller projects and demonstrations.  This is a simple reality if I am working on my own and demand high-quality from myself.  Also, if elegant code is an objective of mine, that unfortunately means I need a degree of control over my code: a degree of control that might not always be available in a large commercial company.  Again, if that is truly an objective of mine, I may need to aim for a smaller scope.

If I want my daily contribution to count, I need to find work others have not done before.  If there are known solutions, then my work is eminently replaceable. I need to be more unique.  I also need to work hard.

If I want to to teach and learn from others, I need to more actively engage in the graphics community: forums, blogs, twitter, and – I daresay – the real world.  Some of the small projects might demonstrate solutions to problems posted on forums, act as plug-ins to popular open source projects.

If I want to make income doing this, I need to market myself better.  This means I need to create a front-page that concisely and immediately communicates what I can offer.  I have one in the works, but it has a long way to go.   I will also need to think about the utility of the projects I engage in.  I need to produce stuff that others find compelling as well as myself.

What’s next?

I’m not sure what the summary of this post should be exactly: I know in general what I would like to be doing and am realizing I need to get serious about finding what in particular I need to be doing to get there.  There’s a lot of work ahead of me.