The path that led me here

So I have finally taken the leap and begun to build my own web 2.0 site. It is something that I have been wanting to do since I graduated from university last year. What were the factors that pushed me over the edge:

• I read Hacker News religiously and I was sick of seeing other people do what I was too lazy to try.
• My day job was getting a bit mundane and so I wanted a creative release... a project that could be mine... a project that was immune to cancellation... a project where I control the requirements and design.
• I have extensive skills (some may say mad skillz) and experience with a wide range of web 2.0 technologies, my favorites being Django and Flex. I realized that if I was passionate about what I was making, I could pump out stuff with lightning fast iterations.
• I was put onto the online book Getting Real by 37 signals by a work colleague. It was a real eye opener.
• My usual addiction to World of Warcraft was waning somewhat, due to the gear reset and other changes coming with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. I will blog more on this later.
• Most importantly however, I felt that I found an idea that has some real merit. At the very least it will provide me with something that I will enjoy using.
  

So about 2 weeks ago I started designing and implementing this site. I would get home from work and instead of playing WoW for a couple of hours I would program. I have been really happy with my progress and productivity thus far.

I admit that I still go raiding on the weekends in the hope that I will get into Black Temple before the expansion comes out. Actually this weekend I have Tempest Keep on Saturday and Hyjal on Sunday... but I digress.

One thing that is really good about my efforts with Path of a Hero is that I have a very natural hard deadline to work with. It is of course the release of Wrath of the Lich King on November 13th 2008.


Well it appears that I still have a lot to say about a variety of things but in the true spirit of software engineering I will keep things small and modular and use composition to achieve the desired result. Hmm... I wonder where inheritance fits in.

By the way if you want to find out more about me and my two identities, take a look at the About page.