Finding My Tribe
Some days I feel like the Incredible Hulk.
Not the smashing things part, though that would be satisfying. The Bruce Banner part, walking through the world feeling different and carrying something most people don't understand.
It's not easy bein' green. Except I am not looking for a cure. I am looking for my tribe.
A few years ago I was on a training run for my first half marathon. I reached a crossroads. Left was unknown territory I had never run before. Right was home. I chose left.
No plan. No support crew. No food, water, or gels. Just a spur of the moment decision to see what I was capable of. That choice turned into four hours of steady movement and I crossed an imaginary finish line having run a full marathon without ever intending to.
That moment did not invent how I operate, but it showed me something I had always known. When there is a fork in the road and one path is safe while the other is uncertain, I will choose uncertain every time.
It shows up everywhere. A CTO once told me that if I failed on a project I was pushing for, I would lose my job. I did it anyway, project-managed it alongside my day job, and it succeeded. The warning was supposed to stop me. Instead it became fuel.
If something is limited, or there is no obvious solution, or best of all someone tells me it cannot be done, that gives me everything I need to ignore the limitation and find a way through.
I care about privacy and owning my data. Everything I build runs locally with no cloud lock-in and no subscription required to access my own information.
I share openly without trying to sell anything. I document what I learn so others can avoid the same mistakes.
I balance building with caregiving. I am the full-time carer for my disabled wife and our four autistic children. The two are not separate lives, they feed each other.
If any of that resonates, I would love to connect. Not to sell you anything or grow a following, just to find others who think the same way. To support and help each other with no strings attached.
Instead of waiting to be found, I thought I would put myself out there.
My tribe is out there somewhere. Maybe you are part of it.
Read more: Andy the Muppit