How to Build Something from Nothing
Everyday I have to give someone a 15 second summary of what I do for a living. I often have to say it about 3 or 4 times a day, and depending on who I am talking to, the language shifts a little. Also, every year this task gets more difficult because its isn't always clear if I should describe what I've done, what I am doing now, or what I would like to do in the near future.
These days it comes out something like "I specialize in designing technologies and processes that shift deeply entrenched problems" and then a rambling line with "... cities...wars... robots... digital ethnography... machine learning... geospatial technology."
This is clearly a terrible introduction.
In general terms, I solve really hard problems for others, but it is hard to explain everything in 7 seconds because while the problems are constant, their workings change, and in response my skills change at a rapid pace. In 2010 I was entirely focussed on postwar reconstruction. A …
These days it comes out something like "I specialize in designing technologies and processes that shift deeply entrenched problems" and then a rambling line with "... cities...wars... robots... digital ethnography... machine learning... geospatial technology."
This is clearly a terrible introduction.
In general terms, I solve really hard problems for others, but it is hard to explain everything in 7 seconds because while the problems are constant, their workings change, and in response my skills change at a rapid pace. In 2010 I was entirely focussed on postwar reconstruction. A …
