Our brains are game changers

Yesterday's evening I have spent with my daughter helping me to fix an old PC. It was an issue in an AC power supply (box was too old, back from ±15 years ago). So PC cannot handle a demand for power from it's components any more. We fixed it with getting out 2 from 4 RAM modules.

Then I have finally booted it. My daughter was happy a lot cause her pet game project called "My Pocket Mouse" was saved (yeap, I have copied it's files to my new macbook; need to put into git repo some how).

And I have found some files I have worked 15-20 years ago - Delphi projects, my first PHP web sites and some old OS/2 stuff I have worked on.

And so one story from 2006th come into my mind finally:

So it started one day, occasionally. My friend had comed by and told me about a new cool framework for Python programming language. It looked so cool for my brain after all this accounting software and place of dev team manager in a small IT company.

What exactly happens when you have a good job, stable income and established relations in your current workplace? Your brain doesn't see a lot of changes and starts to think - “Hey man, it is missing something. I need a change, an adrenaline, dopamine and some stress. So I will work it out and will feel happy after some problems.” This is a natural way our brains work - they need new information. Remember how it was when you got a new place to live - lot of tasks to do (positive emotions, feeling of a goal to complete), a lot furniture to buy, expenses (stress), select a painting (even more stress), stupid painters (negative emotions), then positive emotions - you got something ready. This positive/negative curve is a great deal for the brain. This guy sees he is alive, hormones are produced, and we get emotional feedback.

So how is this connected with a willingness to change a job? My brain said to me, - “Man, c’mon, this is a really cool thing to switch your career”. At this time I have no debts, loans and family so why not. Another cool part of a deal was - this can be done part time, like a contractor. It was about 15 years ago and software outsourcing in Ukraine just appeared. One was able to put a profile online saying “I’m a cool damn software contractor”. And no matter how skilled you are in reality. Just type in a form - “Software development skills - Advanced”, “HTML skills - Advanced”, “JavaScript programming language - Advanced”. Oh and title - “Senior Full Stack Software Expert with a Focus on Client’s Success”.

You're done.