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Explanations

·343 words·2 mins
Articles Assorted Geekery Development Personal
Daniel Andrlik
Author
Daniel Andrlik lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia. By day he manages product teams. The rest of the time he is a podcast host and producer, writer of speculative fiction, a rabid reader, and a programmer.

Sometimes, it is better to leave things a mystery. Most people think they are dull.

I just spent an hour trying to explain this project I am working on at my job. I am writing trip-planning software for our transit agency. Basically this means that a member of the public logs on to our website, chooses a start point, an end point, a date and a time and the software figures out which bus(es) they need to ride at what times, when to transfer, fun stuff like that. So, this kid that I am “chaperoning” while I housesit asks me how it works behind the interface, and being totally excited about, I tried to explain it. I diagrammed out my database tables and some of my data structures until I suddenly looked up and saw the glazed over expression of the terminally bored on my companion’s face.

I know this look, it is the same look my boss gets when I try to answer his questions about how part of the personnel software looks. I finally reached the point where I go, “Brian, you don’t really want me to describe all of that stuff. I can tell you how to make it do what you need it to do, though. And if it doesn’t do that, I’ll write something new.”

I on the other hand, am fascinated with explanations. I love learning how anything works. Political systems, computers, chemistry, physics, psychology, biology, religions: all that stuff. But then again, I am a geek as my friends and coworkers never fail to remind me.

I guess the mark of geeks is that they LOVE explanations, both giving them and hearing them. This is counter to the mythical Average American. A lengthy explanation seems to cause a biological reaction in an AA resulting immediate boredom, irritation, short-term memory loss or a combination of the three.

Ah well, I should get to bed. There is work to do tomorrow, which unfortunately involves firing a kid. This is the worst part of my job. Wish me luck.

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