spacing hack

yelyah

solo piano 20100915

After my long-winded programming rant yesterday, I'm happy to say that I've made a decision.

I happened to do some searching on programming competitions. I had kicked myself that I hadn't found out about the node.js knockout in time to actually register. Knowing what I know now, I probably would have dropped out somewhere in the 2nd hour of the competition, but still.

So I was wondering when and what the other build-a-site-in-a-weekend competitions were. Turns out that the Rails Rumble was right in the middle of registration.

See yesterday I decided two things:

  1. I had to make a decision this week on what language and framework I would start learning
  2. I had to use it for at least a month, both so that I could build something useful and so that I wouldn't prematurely dismiss the tool based on my own ignorance

Well, the Rails Rumble happens in about a month. And it seemed like the perfect combination. I was already committed to spending a month with whatever I picked and then it would be a huge motivation booster to know that I was preparing for something specific.

I did experience both regret and guilt after registering. Regret because, hey, I'm gonna make a fool out of myself with my lack of skills (not to mention that I'll probably end up competing solo when up to 4 people are allowed on a team). And then a bit of guilt because, what business do I have competing, I should let someone more serious take one of the slots.

I didn't know at the time I registered, but you can choose to delete your team before the competition and then whoever's next on the wait-list will get in.

But I'm totally going to go for it.

Or at least that's how I feel today.

I've got a whole month to panic and delete my account.