I can't guarantee I'm making the right choices, but nonetheless, I am choosing my own adventure. I'm not ready to announce the details yet, but when I do, you'll read about it here. I have a little micro-ISV startup opportunity I'll be working on, a web property I'm building out with one of the above people. I want to build stuff – and talk about it. The world has enough vapid commentary blogs. They're not just excellent writers and communicators. If I look at the people I respect most in the industry, the people I view as role models – Paul Graham, Joel Spolsky, Steve Yegge, Eric Sink, Rich Skrenta, Marc Andreesen, Wil Shipley, Douglas Crockford, Scott Guthrie – they all have one thing in common. I don't like ads any more than you do, even if I am now relying on them for a substantial part of my income.īut I refuse to become a full-time blogger. I can tell you that Coding Horror will continue, with a slightly increased emphasis on advertising – but always tastefully. But the way I look at it, if it's not a little scary, then it's not the right choice. It's scary to trade the security of a safe, salaried job for the unknowns of your own small business. I'm not sure what exactly lies on page 10. It would be unfair to Vertigo and to myself to do anything less. And I have to close the door on Vertigo, however reluctantly, to fully and wholeheartedly explore the alternatives. Sometimes choosing your own adventure means closing one door to open another. I'm proud to be a distinguished Vertigo alumnus. Vertigo remains a fantastic place to work, and if you're a Microsoft ecosystem developer, I can't recommend it highly enough. I will sorely miss the camaraderie and the many close personal friends I've made at Vertigo. With some trepidation, I'm now turning to page 10. I've spent the last six months staring at this page trying to figure out what to do. If you choose to quit your job and wholeheartedly pursue blog-related opportunities, turn to page 10. If you choose to continue working and having fun with your friends at Vertigo, turn to page 8. However, over the last three years, the growing online popularity of your blog has eclipsed everything else you do, and opened up many new – but risky – opportunities. You've become close friends with your coworkers, who are all as passionate about software development as you are. It is by far the best job you've ever had. I suppose this is on my mind today because 28 years later, I feel like I'm still playing Choose Your Own Adventure: You have landed your dream job as a technical evangelist for Vertigo Software. More than two-thirds of the outcomes either result in the player's death, or being trapped somewhere in time, leading out an alternate life. Of the 39 possible outcomes in the book, only 11 are positive. Here's a diagram of all possible outcomes in the original Cave of Time book:Īlthough it's fun to explore and test all the permutations, the book is also a little bit grim. If that sounds like branching and if-then logic – maybe even recursion and stacks – well, it is. Every few pages you make a decision, which leads to a different page in the book. Whether reading the modern updates, or through inheriting a worn hand-me-down copy, it's encouraging to think that future generations can have the same fun pseudo-programming experience I had reading and re-reading these classic books. The Choose Your Own Adventure series are early programmer books, I'd say. You can pick up the original Cave of Time – with funky, freaky late 1970s art intact – for a mere penny. Joey DeVilla put together a great montage of the original 66 Choose Your Own Adventure book covers. The cover art is just as brilliant, and in full color. Here are two illustrations from the first book in the series, The Cave of Time. The original illustrator, Don Hedin (using the pseudonym Paul Granger) had quite an eye for the often fantastic and surreal topics depicted in these books. I bought one today at a local Barnes & Noble to refresh my memory, and although the overall experience is intact, I'm not terribly impressed with the updated art. The Choose Your Own adventure books are still around modern versions can be found at your local bookstore. The Choose Your Own Adventure book series was one of my favorites as a young reader.
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