Community
2015.09.10
Peers. Tribe. Peeps. Pack. Niche. Whatever name is meaningful to you the takeaway is this: It’s good to have Community.
I spent a brief but priceless interval consulting and conversing with the student community at FHP this afternoon. They were generously and eagerly helping me troubleshoot an App up on Heroku. It was an amazing experience for me.
I am a rather self-sufficient sort. Life-long caretaker personally and former Network Specialist/Sysadmin for 14½ years professionally. I am USED to working without a net. Having to figure stuff out for myself because there is nobody else to turn to. That tends to be my Modus Operandi. It’s my ground state. My normal.
The half hour this afternoon where my fellow students and alumni acted as a sounding board for me was magic. I don’t actually mean in the @chat instance scope per se, I mean in the $chat global or universal scope. Today was inspirational, the hint of tomorrow++ was even more so.
Having folks to cooperatively collaborate with me, sharing of their knowledge and taking the time to toss ideas around with me was an immensely positive experience. I can only hope this is what team development will be like. I have always enjoyed brainstorming and group strategizing. Everyone bringing their strengths to the table and building something grander than the sum of its parts.
I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few years contemplating the act of Finding Your Tribe. And while I can’t say I’m quite there just yet (my day-to-day life is still lacking in like-minded individuals) when it comes to being immersed in a supportive community and the power of that experience to help your dreams take flight I can say for certain that the experience is part of my current learning paradigm1 with the Firehose Project. And today that hit home.
Scott talks about Community starting ~10:46. But watch the whole thing, seriously.
~AMP
1. Heh… Paradigm… also known as a Model.