Man today was not a good day for me and tech. Sometimes things don’t work out the he way they should and I tend to really beat myself up over it. Then I realize that it is not that I am bad at what I do, just that what I am doing is really hard. More and more of the stuff I am doing these days is off the map. There are no guides or tutorials to follow. If I am lucky I can find something to build on top of, but even that only gets me 15% of the way there.
I love a challenge and I am certainly in the thick of it all more and more. Today I forgot that people are used to the well established plug and play tech that we use every day. Not really thinking about how much work went into making a near bullet proof device that can be supported by a few tech docs and low paid call center rep.
Being on the fringe means taking risks and most do not pay off. I have 5 out of 7 pieces of tech in this project that are preforming flawlessly. All but one is unique, custom designed, built and programmed by me. I have learned many lessons that are already leading to better and more reliable tech to drive similar projects in the future.
Being a maker is more about how we fail and what we choose to do with that failure. We can let us eat us up alive or pick up the pieces and get back to work.
Now I am heading home to try out some cheap irrigation parts on the gravity fed watering system for my patio garden…
I choose to make.