Tonight is the first time since some of Ron's classes and some Database that I've felt like I really have a place in the industry.
Tonight in my Systems Analysis class, we were talking and hacking stuff out, and I noticed that Rodney and I have defaulted to team leaders. It's not planned or anything, it's just that he has the strong leadership skills, and I have the strong beta-leadership skills to organize and pull everything together, even though my technical skills are not the strongest.
I was thinking about that, walking home, how I do have an aptitude for this, and that I might think about taking more night classes to work with more men who are more professional and more skilled, more hands-on engineering types than day college students, and I found that not only was I thrilled about the idea, I was even a little turned-on.
I am addicted to engineering fields. There is something about the presence of a large number of people, all geeking in-depth about technical stuff, that makes me high. It's something about the way the air around them feels.
I'm rare in that I don't think I'm actually a geek, not really-truly. I don't have that level of in-depth exclusive focus on the technology that I find so attractive. However, what I can do is fall in love with geeks, and gain an excellent layperson's knowledge of the subject, so that I can become a translator, a bridge, between deep-geeks, and those who are completely (-clue)sers, as well as those slightly more in between, but still not speaking deep-geek.
What is surprising me is that I can lead, and organize, deep-geeks, and get them to see through the eyes of others: not only can I make deep-geeks see through my own eyes, but I can make deep-geeks see through the eyes of anyone whose eyes I can see through myself. And visa-versa.
Contemplating on this walking home, I suddenly saw something shiny in the parking lot. A nickel. Heads-up. 1990. Confirmation.