A Flawless Weekend Systems Errand
My Saturday morning errand run as a Systems Engineer. I felt I must share .. : ๐ตโ๐ซ
- Tire pressures checked.
- Traffic contingencies mapped.
- Weather radar audited.
- Two backup phone cables packed.
Flawless! What a safety-critical execution for a 10 mins trip to Wickes.
Arrive at the till. Reaching into my pocket …
๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ด๐ผ๐ ๐บ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐! ๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐บ๐ ๐ฝ๐ต๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ. ๐ข๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ .. ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐ป ๐บ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐๐๐ผ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ.
Turns out two decades of risk-mitigation planning canโt fix zero pre-coffee โ brainpower!
A Great Saturday to anyone else currently over-engineering the wrong things!
You have A Good one!
Today I turn another page. One more year older. ๐ Looking back at my younger self: I used to think expertise was about complexity. In my 20’s I thought being a GREAT engineer meant drawing massive diagrams. I thought it meant using acronyms no one else understood.
I thought if a problem looked simple I wasn’t working hard enough.
Twenty+ years and thousands of engineering hours later I know the truth:
๐๐ป๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐๐๐๐๐ฒ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ.
It takes real maturity to make it simple! Getting older in this field has taught me that true value isn’t proving how clever you are. Itโs walking into a chaotic room, cutting through the noise and turning a messy problem into a quiet, clear path forward.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ข๐ง๐ฆ๐ต๐บ-๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ.
Hereโs to another year of keeping things simple, staying human, and enjoying the ride.
๐.๐.: ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ’๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐บ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ.
Lounging in a coffeeshop today, after having a mock interview call to help a mentee prepare for interview next week. I’m thinking hard to help myself too now …
What are the next steps in life? Oh .. the accountability of deliberate choice. Of having the reigns in your own hands ..
No?
Ramping Back up .. slow
A time after an annual leave followed by a bank holiday weekend. I feel exhausted but rested, if that’s even a thing? But very hard to gear up and get back to work … is it only me? I’m revving up the engines now.
But the biggest achievent last week: I got my Chartership: I’m officialy a Chartered Engineer (CEng) now.
So I did somthing last week afterall ….
I’m out in Spain testing. France tomorrow. The Switzerland, Italy, Austria …
It will be a long week. But it’s summer …
Looks like my weight went down, I’m 84kg this morning. And all the other indicators are about 1% better compared to last Monday, the 3rd of Aug. Sounds like a good trajectory. My hydration is still too low though.
I do because I am. And I can be! Much more than this. No moaning, no frustration - just building. Regularly, daily; consistently! One step ahead. No rejection, no fear. No rejection disforia. No complex equivalence. Just stubborn stepping ahead everyday.
Do Important Stuff:
The important is comms, networking, talking with people. Awareness.
Exploring opportunities. Hunting for them, Creating them!
Partnering with people. I should be ready, I have a welcome ante-room and intro website. All this Should be fairly simple, if not necessarily easy.
I feel I’m draining my physiological engine and mental bandwidth on unwinnable corporate politics. By engaging in “Mind-Reading” regarding my employer’s motives I am letting the day job’s drama sabotage the energy I need for my high-creativity bursts.
SToP
.. And so my no.1 priority now is looking ahead and glimpse, figure out and define what the future looks like so that I will shape it! I’ll move up to the next step or the staircase. Get myself into a better position compared to today.
If you never take any risk you will never lose. But you won’t win either!
Calculated Risk is the Ticket.
If you’re a builder with premium skills standing at the perfect intersection of experience and opportunity: must stop playing business, embrace the discomfort of the market, and start acting like a professional contractor. What are you waiting for?
This may very well be a question for the self!
Are you clear on why you work?
Reflecting on what I told one of my mentees yesterday, it applies to us all:
Have a job that you don’t hate and separate it from your identity, form you self esteem and self view. Work to live don’t live to work. And use this acceptable job to finance your desired lifestyle. Allow for a satisfying life on your own terms!
For years, I suffered from the same Impostor Syndrome. I used to think my value was in knowing every deep technical detail, and discounted my ability to just bring order to a chaotic project.
I realised the hard way that trying to be the deepest technical specialist in every room is a losing game.
I asked my newest automated buddy to synthesise and distil our latest support videocall. This is the best it came up with …
Any useful?
Most ambitious engineers try to level up the same broken way: stack another certification, master another tool, wait for someone to notice. No one notices!
They end up overqualified on paper and completely invisible in the room: anxious, overlooked, and wondering if they’re the problem.