Lessons from the Pandemic: The software engineer version

Let me begin by being grateful for the profession which made us software engineers one of the least affected by the pandemic. A lot has changed since the time humans tried to create fire from stones after they hammered fire into stones and created the device that you are reading this on.

There is a saying in the software architecture industry, which goes as follows:

"Any organization that designs a system will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure"

This is called Conway's law and it came out in the late 1960s. Fast forward 60 years, an Inverse Conway's law seems to have sprung out. Humans, collaborative by nature, have turned into distributed systems. Pandemics are not new to human civilization. After we stopped slashing and burning, settled down, and changed ecologies of nature around us, diseases of multiple shapes have uncovered themselves. To understand this, let us take the most ironic example of the present context. Ask yourself this, how scarier is a lion on a street compared to one inside a cage? Some diseases are endemic to ar organism, and exist as caged lions within them, whereas, the same disease may be fatal for another.

Not that exchange of that kind couldn't happen earlier, but the ripples would be confined in a forest a few thousand years ago or confined to a small landmass a few hundred years ago. In the past few decades, the human network increased and this pandemic might be the first of many. An infectious disease on a landmass with minimal humans, and locked by water on all ends, won't be confined. Nature's own sense of equality would reign supreme through them.

If this rather philosophical discussion piqued your interest, expect many more in the coming articles. Alas, if it didn't, here are what the pandemic has taught me:

1. Humans need other people to reinforce their beliefs

Other animals have existed in societal organizations and evolved themselves to value social bonds which would eventually pass down to us as genetic needs. Social Media has opened those boundaries. Finding like-minded people is easier yet scarier, for the difference between whether you share an opinion, or has the society has shaped an opinion out of you based on the understanding of the social network's algorithms has blurred. Humans have grown closer to random people that share some of their opinions rather than their family which shaped the other but disagrees with a handful of others.

TL;DR: Develop empathy, understand things, break away from polarization. They are using your social genes for their benefit and we have become more vulnerable to it after the pandemic has cut all other interactions. Cherish the ones you still have.

2. Having two knives is essential

For anyone wondering, yes, that is a metaphor. Covey floated the habit of sharpening the saw. As a software engineer, and with the ever-increasing number of programming languages, practices, and revolutions, I deeply sponsor that idea, but the pandemic has taught me one universal truth, things change. Sometimes, too fast. There is a saying in my local language - "Banda Jorre pali-pali te Ram Rurravey Kuppey", literally, Man saves in pennies, time spends in barrels. This pandemic has caused an unexpected slump in many industries that were at the peak of stability. Take app-based taxis as an example. Some of the largest Cab-aggregators fired a lot of their staff, started paying meagrely and some even shut down. What if the internet is hit next? Have a side passion, cultivate it, love it, hate it, but among all this noise, find time for it, regardless. So that when something happens to your first knife, you have a fairly sharp one that screams, "Not today".

TL;DR: Don't underestimate the hobbies you have and yes, if you are good at something, you won't be doing it for free when there will be a need.

3. Respect your body and mind

Regardless of your belief in the soul, taking care of your mortal body would yield benefits. Humans have the innate ability to sacrifice immediate gratification for future needs. However, when given this power, the sacrifice, more often than not, is of health. Whether physical or mental, that sacrifice would be very detrimental compared to the momentary gain that you hedge your bets upon. With the pandemic, as the lines between work and home diminish, disconnecting, and becoming able to value the importance of health becomes important.

TL;DR: When given a choice between goals and health, choose health. Achieving your goals is dependent on both hard work and luck. Finding the right balance, while prioritizing your health, you might end up getting both of them working in your favor!

Well then, that's all folks!

I hope you had fun reading this. What do you want the next article to be about? Work-life in my first job? Employable skills? Meditation? Conspiracy theories? Something else? Let me know in the comments :D

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