Also known as.. The Joy of Computing! :D
This is the first, we think, in a long series of vlog-ish content. We've got a bit more upbeat style planned for the next video.
The pesky time vampires get me too many time. Now there is knowledge in my brain about them, so I can sense there presence and get rid of them right away, hopefully! 
ALSO THANK YOU VERY MUCH!! 
Great video!
Anybody looking to get into programming should watch this:
Been waiting for a series like this. Appreciate it.
great video, looking forward to the series. The format is funny.
@wendell, @ryan , @kreestuh maybe you should include setting goals into the series, it helped me to set a goal for every month so that i had a clear schedule to work with towards my exams. This helped me later to break a large project into pieces and keep it moving and meet the deadline
love the side job you do for us
God that just about killed my when I watched the video I guess I have eclectic humor.
I may be a bit biased; but… system modeling, system modeling, system modeling.
One way to be notable in any endeavor is to do something not only useful but a little bit different. This requires being creative on a daily basis. This is one of the less understood aspects of human thinking. John Cleese has done a great deal of work on the subject for a few decades now; and he has some interesting things to say about it. This Google Talk is a good summation of his thoughts.
It’s now thought that creative thinking is more lower brained than once thought. Maybe it’s just allowing Entropy to propagate until Novelty eventually results through probability.
He also gives some insight on the dangers of dogmatic thinking; where it might become an issue with meta-analysis. His reference to Carl Popper was extremely astute; as Philosophy of Science is heavily influenced by Epistemology.
That being said, distraction from that awake, aware cognition is essential. Mitigating the unfavorable outcomes may best be served by owning your own distractions. Not allowing the appeal to the “lowest common denominator”, which the attention craving aspects of the internet throws at you in mass at any given time to distract you from your goals is probably also essential. Having the choice to collect links that keep you on track, even when you’re stuck can be a great advantage. You do have control over your intake; if you take the time to be conscious of it. This requires the introspective awareness that John Cleese refers to in this talk. This slightly, cognitively off track but slightly contextually relevant mode of consciousness can keep you working throughout the day and maybe even the night.
I’m much farther along on my project than I would have guessed I might be at this stage; because I rarely stop. Though I’m working on extremely difficult problems, I’m creating an environment that doesn’t inhibit my progress. The internet is as much a wealth of useful and inspirational content as it is a home for porn and kitty vids… not that you couldn’t use those for a useful form of analysis as well; in the right state of mind.
John Clese makes reference to the difficulty of knowing what one is good at. There is also the aspect of being passionate about one’s project. Interest and aptitude are both essential in the success of a project. This appears to be difficult to measure; though it really isn’t. Successes are measured by milestones among a large number of failures. This is expected in testing and should be expected in the progress of a project. The failures are in fact what directs the project toward the milestones. The failures have something interesting to suggest about the model. This of course requires meta-analysis as well. The project that one works on may totally change. For instance, the project that I’m working on now (complex social systems analysis) spawned from an interest in game design; which in and of itself is extremely complex and complicated. One of the main tenants of social order is that every individual has something intrinsic to offer to social contribution. Of course there are a small number of exceptions; but knowing one’s strengths and limitations is probably very important in the nascent stages.
That whole bit was comedy gold.
But will it be fucking gorgeous?
The comedy mixed in with some very right to the point, simple but often not followed advice made for a great video. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Thanks Level 1 Techs for putting content out there that is helpful and not some garbage trying to get clicks.
I don’t care that one of your staff went to school for UI design, what did everyone else do? What did Wendel go to school for… why such a big secret?
I don’t think it’s a secret probably will be told throughout series and even if they didn’t want to divulge that info does it really matter.
I’m trying to think of what Wendel went to school for is relevant for the channel.
I’m pretty sure that Wendell already talked about his background in one of the older Tek Syndicate videos.
you can correct me if i am wrong but Wendel has a computer science degree. Not sure what his day job is. I almost changed my major to computer science but went with AS degree in electrical engineer technology I ended up with a well paying job at a fortune 100 company but there are day I feel as if I sold my sole to the devil.
Hope you didn’t sell your sole, you wouldn’t have anything to stand on.
no I did not. I work for ATT. via the old Bellsouth. I used to be a nock tech but after many mergers I am now a glorified collections rep. I miss my old days of being able to fix issue in the network, But the CEO had different plans do I am now a survivor. Keeping my well paid job due to my union contract but I am not happy with what I do for a living today. Too many senior people on payroll and I have to take what I can get. 20 years as an co et and now a collections rep what the hell man what the hell.
As someone who works for a company who resells Cingular in well, not sure we are a NOC anymore but hey title fits I can say they have done the same damned thing in the wireless support. They are saddled with a 15 to 20 year old biller which routinely requires bandaids as its a giant sucking chest wound, got rid of all the experienced employees and we are left with copy/paste support. Went from having a Single Point of Contact… to a Single Point of Paper Pushing, she don’t know anything but by golly can regurgitate what XXX group says.
For our Covington location we tried to get a backup internet circuit that was as divergent as possible route from our primary circuit… yeah, that didn’t turn out well. Provisioning done by computers and local actual engineer contact was absolutely refused.
Hell, some of the first DS3’s I turned up as a civilian were handled by one person, they would do both the DS3 and then the DS1’s most of which were SS7. Then the duties were split… which was a pain and I thought that was bad, I’d like to go back to those days again.
