Leaving Normal
Opening the Door to Your Own Destiny
By J. Timothy King on August 12, 2009
This morning, after I dropped the Missus off at work, I headed down Washington Street toward Mishawum Road, where I needed to make a left turn in order to get to the highway. Now, this particular intersection has two left-turn lanes. That is, if you want to make a left turn, you can either get […]
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Inspiration, Leaving Normal, Stories, True Stories, Wishcasting Wednesday | Tagged herd instinct, innovation, psychology | 9 Responses
Why I No Longer Belong in a Dilbert Cube
By J. Timothy King on July 20, 2009
The biggest block of time in my software-development career I spent working in an extraordinary job, a very special place to work, with a very special group of people, for 14 years. Throughout the dot-com boom, I stayed there, ignoring the promises of exciting work and increased salary. But before I worked there, I tried […]
Posted in Leaving Normal, Software Development, Stories, True Stories | Tagged career, Damon/IEC, EFG, Kurzweil Music Systems, programming | 3 Responses
7 Best Things About Being a Consulting Software Developer
By J. Timothy King on February 7, 2009
I ran across the video below at the SDLC blog: “Hug a developer… They’re in terrible pain.” This came at an significant time for me, because I too have been working on a project that is quite painful for me. It’s painful, because I saw the disaster coming, because I warned about it, because I […]
Posted in Leaving Normal, Software Development, Stories, True Stories | Tagged consulting, programming, software engineering
Why I Like Being a One-man Entrepreneur
By J. Timothy King on November 11, 2008
A few weeks ago Seth Godin wrote that a business can be “too small to fail”. That is, while bigger businesses can afford to take risks without going under… A small acting bank would never have invested in tens of thousands of loans that they hadn’t looked at. And a small acting startup wouldn’t hire […]
Posted in Business, Entrepreneurship, Leaving Normal, Stories, True Stories
Why I Never Want to be Published
By J. Timothy King on March 17, 2008
Recently, a fiction author told me that because I was “unpublished”–his word, not mine–I was unqualified to offer advice on writing stories. Of course, that’s silly, because getting published is not about whether you can write. It’s about schmoozing with editors and agents and about receiving enough rejection letters. Getting published is an exercise in […]
Posted in Business, Leaving Normal, Self-publishing, Stories, True Stories | Tagged critics, innovation | 4 Responses
Changes: Fading Out of the Software Business
By J. Timothy King on October 7, 2007
I’ve been an idiot. I’ve moved this blog to a new domain, blog.JTimothyKing.com. (That’s not how I’ve been an idiot.) And I’m changing the focus, because the focus of my life has been changing. The fact that it has been changing for the past 2 years but I haven’t acted on it– That’s how I’ve […]
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Leaving Normal, Software Development, Stories, Tales of a Wanna-Be Software Entrepreneur, True Stories, Writing | 8 Responses
I’ve Been So Busy…
By J. Timothy King on July 26, 2007
… I have over 30,000 unread posts in my feed reader. … I haven’t read Dilbert for over a month. … I have to schedule appointments with my wife. … Some people have e-mailed me three times, and I still haven’t gotten back to them. … I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to read a […]
Posted in Humor, Leaving Normal, Stories, Tales of a Wanna-Be Software Entrepreneur, True Stories
Ten Things That Are Different Now That I’m Self-Employed
By J. Timothy King on December 5, 2006
My first day as an entrepreneur, I got sick. Seriously. It was Thanksgiving. And I got a virus, which grew steadily worse through that day and the next. Immediately, I got to experience two differences about working for yourself: No paid holidays, and no paid sick leave. By Friday evening, I was completely incapacitated and […]
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Leaving Normal, Stories, Tales of a Wanna-Be Software Entrepreneur, True Stories | 19 Responses
The Mantra That Will Get Me Through My Last 4 Days
By J. Timothy King on November 17, 2006
Today I discovered a mantra that I hope will get me through my last four days in this place. And I wrote it on my dry-erase board. If you recall, I quit my job and struck out on my own. But I still have a few more days before my last. Four days, to be […]
Posted in Leaving Normal, Professionalism, Stories, Tales of a Wanna-Be Software Entrepreneur, True Stories | 7 Responses
Yes, I’ve Left Normal
By J. Timothy King on November 10, 2006
I gave my notice this week, and I’m now officially self-employed (almost). My first reaction was, “How cool is this? I’m rockin’ now!” My second reaction was, “Oh s***! What have I just done?!”
Posted in Leaving Normal, Stories, Tales of a Wanna-Be Software Entrepreneur, True Stories | Tagged Escape from Cubicle Nation, Pam Slim, Roswell | 10 Responses