My other identity, as a software developer, now has a blog too, along with some of my colleagues.  It’s full of all kinds of strange words, and is not the least bit interesting unless you happen to be a developer who works with something called “SharePoint 2010″, which may be some kind of sci-fi movie, I’m not really sure.  (My other identity would know.)

Do other professions have such a large vocabulary of jargon as programmers have?  Probably, but ours changes faster.  As a programmer you have two options: You can specialize in one technology, and pray that it will stay relevant until you retire, or you can try to stay up to date on the new stuff that’s always happening.

Staying up to date as a programmer is like playing against a frenzied tennis ball machine.  It’s best not to think about it too much, or you’ll realize that it’s impossible to get them all.  Just start hitting.  And don’t ever stop.

In my case the tennis ball machine is called Microsoft, who release interesting new technologies at a frightening pace. The nice thing about living inside the Microsoft sphere is that the people there are a little less preachy than elsewhere.  But they sure get enthusiastic about their new technologies.  I’m no exception.  Hence the blog.