Tycho Magnetic Anomaly One

An early start. Both Austin and me are working at the same client today, but for different reasons. Austin is training, and I'm consulting.

I have an incredible day. I spend much of the day helping two folks work with some tricky code that's not behaving well, and has got into something of a tangle. After witnessing the flailing of an intense debugging session, I tell them we'll change tack, and  take it by the book. Many of the classics of software engineering aren't widely known, and are seldom applied in practice. We progress through maybe a dozen steps, solving the puzzle using standard techniques from the '70s, 80s and 90s. I don't touch the keyboard, guiding the way, offering advice, letting them do what they're already good at.

First the software begins to work. Then it becomes simpler. Eventually it is beautiful.  There is a palpable sense of joy in the room. In a career first for me, one of the participants literally sheds tears at the achievement. It's a giant success for them. "I've learned so much today!" they say, "I wish you could be hear every day".

Wonderful.