15 March, 2010 | Written by Vincent 6 Comments

Working for myself

From today 15 March 2010 onwards, I will be working for myself. (Today’s article won’t have any math or programming stuff, so you might want to skip this if you’re not interested in entrepreneurship, online businesses, or personal journey kind of thing.)

It was a tough decision, but I realised that the decision was made a long time ago when I started writing this blog. Nearly 3 years ago, I started writing, in part because I needed an outlet to put my thoughts down, and in part to see what this “blogging” thing was all about. On the way, I learned what I could of online businesses; what they are and how to set them up.

Nearly 3 years later, I still don’t have something compelling to offer. I’ve looked at probably every way to earn something through this blog. Blog advertising, paid posts, affiliate products and the variants of each method. I don’t like them (or they don’t work), and they don’t fit with the blog. They “uglify” the site, and don’t add value to you.

So I took everything out and just continued to write. Once, I was asked why I continue to write when there’s clearly no benefit. I don’t get paid. My blog’s not popular. There are hardly any comments, let alone other bloggers linking to me.

That would be disheartening if not for the fact that I installed FeedBurner and Google Analytics. They tell me how many people subscribe to my blog RSS feed, and how many people visit my blog. The statistics aren’t even close to what a mid-range blog have. Yet they are consistently growing, albeit slowly.

So why do I continue to write? Because of you. Because you continue to read what I write, even if you choose to remain silent (which is totally ok). Which makes the few times where I get to hear from you all the more worthwhile.

Anyway, back to that working for myself thing. Since there’s little I could do to monetise this blog, I started Honeybeech where I write about games and RPGs and Dungeons and Dragons. That blog gave me a glimmer of chance to start an online business.

All this had been done part-time. I write software, design user interfaces, handle user queries, and generally solve problems in my day job. And I write about math and programming at night. And learn all those things about online businesses at night too. The goal had always been to set up a part-time business, and grow it enough so it can feed me and support my family. And then I’ll quit my day job, and be free to do whatever I want. Which is most probably that business, and write math and programming articles here.

I actually didn’t consider my (old) day job to be a “day job”. “Day job” has a negative connotation that it’s just a way to earn money. Mine wasn’t like that to me. At least it wasn’t when I started out. I got to learn new things and the people I worked with were great. Everyone worked hard, little (if any) office politics (backstabbing was unheard of), and they were professional in their work.

Now, consider job satisfaction. The key point of distinction between places to work is rarely the work you’ll be asking the employee to do. It’s the perceived connection between the employee and the people she works with. – Linchpin, Seth Godin

As time went by, my colleagues left one by one, either due to personal reasons or company rule (downsizing). What used to be a vibrant garden for me became a lonely graveyard. Sure, no one wanted to discuss C pointers with me, but at least I had company.

The work I was tasked to do wasn’t interesting any more. I started to stagnate. My programming skills plateaued. There weren’t any projects for me to apply new skills.

Think of all the reasons why you’re doing whatever it is you do during the day. Because the work is interesting? Because it’s challenging? Because you get to meet and talk to cool people? Because you get to impart knowledge? Because you get to learn? Because the work you do makes a difference in someone’s life? Because you get to make the world a little better? Because you get paid?

I won’t go into the reasons why I quit my job. Suffice to say, near the end, the only reason I continue to do that job was to earn a paycheck. And that’s a lousy reason to keep doing whatever I had to do.

I do not recommend this to you. I’ve decided to explore setting up an online business instead of looking for another programming job. Your mileage may vary.

I will continue to write math and programming articles here. Now that I’m freer (relatively speaking), some hobbyist math research and dabbling with programming techniques will be possible. First, I have to concentrate on feeding myself…

Oh yes, in case you’re interested, I’ll create some game products for sale, and offer writing services at Honeybeech. I haven’t had this planned out to the last detail. At this point, I’ve managed to sell a few copies of my Math Wizard (by being displayed at DriveThruRPG). Not quite be-able-to-eat-3-meals-a-day state, but better than nothing…

I’ll probably write on my adventures in how I manage to feed myself through whatever means here. Maybe tutoring. Let’s see if academic students are what I remember when I was their age…

8 February, 2010 | Written by Vincent Leave a Comment

Answers to philosophical questions must be reasoned

My friend wrote a short guide on what makes a question philosophical. The 3 conditions for a question to pass the philosophical test are interesting.

Has not been answered by science

The obvious reason is that, if it’s answered by science, there’s no point in answering it (philosophically).

For example, “Can penguins fly?” is answered by science. It’s “no”. Their bodies aren’t made for flying. Although…

Cannot be answered by conducting an experiment

“Can common salt be produced by mixing two liquids together?” can be answered with experiments. After laborious testing, you find that if you mix sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid, you get sodium chloride (and water), or more commonly known as salt.

If a question can be answered with experiments, then there’s no point arguing about it. Just do the experiment to test the answer.

So I conclude…

that my friend doesn’t like science. *smile*

No, it’s that when a question can only be answered by reasoning it through, then it’s considered a philosophical question.

25 January, 2010 | Written by Vincent Leave a Comment

Do beer ladies need a career path?

Beer ladies, in the Singapore context, are women who serve beer at the local coffee shops. They generally chat with the (generally male) customers so they are more likely to buy more beer. Maybe it’s obvious to you, but it still needs to be said.

And we’re talking about this because I went to a philosophy cafe session recently. And that was the topic. We generalised the term “beer ladies” for our discussion (including child stars and air stewardesses). And you can add in your comments on the original post “Do beer ladies need a career path?“.

Be careful. My friend is a Toastmaster and a philosopher. Your points had better have some backing to them, or be prepared to be scathed by words.

I brought up the point about entrepreneurs and was quickly shot down. Entrepreneurs don’t fit into the “career path” kind of thing. Their point was that entrepreneurs start up a business and if it fails, that’s the end of the story. If it succeeds, they become managers, and that’s also the end of the story (or career path). I don’t think it’s that simple, but entrepreneurs are a complex bunch anyway.

At the start of the session, we were supposed to come up with 6 plausible topics, and the final topic would be decided by votes. On a whim, I suggested “How many digits to PI does it have to be, before you think it’s real?“. My philosopher friend absolutely loved it. I was joking! Luckily no one took it up…

My philosopher friend had 2 things he forbade: no photos of the attendees (especially of him) and nothing regarding Singapore. His argument is that, we can always generalise the topic to the world at large. So even if you’re not from Singapore, you are welcome to join us, since the topics won’t be localised.

The venue is at Nook, 15 Chu Lin Road, held from 8pm to 10pm, on the 3rd Wednesday of every month. The next one is on 17 February 2010.

Since he forbade me to take photos, this was all I could capture:

Almoncino