Doors & Walls

Once upon a time, there was a little girl. She was raised on how important it is to stick to rules, how urgent it is to create boundaries, and how crucial it is to secure herself against every possible person. She was raised on fear, and on strict laws and forms. Rules which prohibit exploring any possible path, which prevent any curious thought, and which suppress every possible instinct.

She ended up locking herself up in a room. She secured the door to her soul with every possible key. She protected the door so hard, that she forgot to check the walls of that room.

That room was always attacked by different people; strangers, family, and friends. But the little girl has always been busy securing her only entrance; that door. Unfortunately, she overlooked the walls. People were much more experienced than her in breaking locks. They dug every possible hole and washed away the strength off the walls.

Until suddenly, one day, she woke up without a single wall surrounding her. The only remnant of that room became her extremely protected door and the pillars… But no walls.

What is the use of a door for a room which has no walls?!

The little girl was shocked. She lost her sense of direction, and she lost faith in her room. Then, one by one, she started to think how to mend those broken walls. She had some hope to find peacefulness again. The only solution was to connect the pillars with pieces of cloth, as if they were walls or simple curtains. She does not have the experience, nor the strength to build walls for a full room. Even if she did, she would probably lose the last remains of the room, she would definitely lose the main pillars and her precious useless door.

The little girl lost her room because she had full faith in her door. She believed in the strength of the walls while she has never tested them. She destroyed her room, with no return point to have the same old room again…

Computer Science vs. Time

He was always right. What our professor in the university has always told us, was always right. Now after almost 10 years of leaving the university, he is still right. His words still resonate in my mind regardless of how much time is passing!

That professor has always said that by being a computer science student, you need to expand your time. His words were: “You are a computer science student. You do not have a normal time like the rest of humans. Your day is a 48 hours day, your week is a 10 days week and your month is a 6 weeks month. You have to create the time to succeed. You have no normal time scale like the rest. That’s not enough!”.

In fact, by being a software engineer implies increasing your time multiple times! His words were right for the university time, when I had to study and practice a lot besides my full-time job in sports and besides being a student for 30 hours attending lectures and labs. This race with the time was the major competition I had to go through, with no option to lose!

Now, after a decade of leaving the university, I figured out that his words are still valid. Honestly speaking, the competition with the time is growing harder and more aggressively. I need to end up having around 4 to 6 months every month! Otherwise I would be out of the game. This constant run to beat the time is one hell of a job. It was stressful in the first few years and now it became a “lifestyle”.

That professor was one of the best teachers for me. His analogy and philosophy was quite vague at that time. But now, after years, he is the only one whose words still resonate in my mind.