Originally Posted by
Risho
Happy Ango!!!
Today’s talk and q&a just really lit my ango flame. I’m very passionate about work practice. I have a very thinking-oriented career. I’m a senior software engineer, on an information security team, in a global corporation. I don’t state that to be a braggart. I have little sympathy for title dropping. In fact I am a proponent of completely flat organizations where everyone are peers. Also, I find the term “software engineer” to be a little confusing. I don’t work on engines and I don’t have an engineering license. I guess “engineer” just means a job focused on building and, I guess, that is something I certainly do. I build/write enterprise level application software. In any case, I state this because I think work is one of the core practices which allows me to integrate Zen into daily life.
The more I practice and study, the more I realize that these teachings, although written many years ago, must be internalized. I take it to the point where I read it as if Dogen, for example, is talking directly to me. In that way, Tenzo Kyokun is no other than the Buddha Way of software engineering. And I mean that sincerely.
When working for a corporation, it can be easy to float by, come in to work, stick with what’s been done and just basically collect a paycheck. I can’t live my life like that. It is not the Bodhisattva Way, nor is it the way of the Tenzo. We have a short time here.. Use your gifts, share them freely and that is freedom. Wake up and go to work excited! There is nothing better to me, than to have the privilege of work where I can think for a living. But that’s me; each one of us has to find his or her own path. And it’s very, very important that we do; we each have unique talents and if we realize them we can serve others to our utmost potential. And that’s what work is all about… service.
How do you take a line of code and transform it into the 10,000 foot golden body of the Buddha? I’ll tell you perspectives, but this question is one of discovery and constantly peeling away layers of an onion. If you think you’ve got this and rest on your laurels, you’ve lost the way.
You focus. You work diligently to code elegant, efficient solutions that best serve others, i.e your customers.
If you cannot explain your solution in “layman’s” terms, you do not have a mastery of the concepts that you are going to utilize to solve a problem. You also likely do not have a complete understanding of the problem space. You are not on a higher level than anyone else; you have a unique and important perspective, but you must work as hard as you can to realize and share that. If someone is not as “technical” as you are, you have a responsibility to teach them in terms they understand. Non-technical users are a great ally in the field because they will help you realize problems in your code (and there is yet to be bug-free software on this planet) that you would never have realized yourself, since you have a limited perspective, i.e. you come from a framework of a developer.
If you aren’t doing something you love as work, then you are doing a disservice to yourself and those you serve; if your heart isn’t in it, you are going to do much worse than if you didn’t do the job at all.
My job is life and death. I approach it with the utmost respect. I am humbled that the tools and concepts I use came from the sacrifices of all the ancestors before me. I truly stand on the shoulder of giants.
Bugs in code should be treated as gifts; they give you a chance to learn. You must polish you code like removing grains of sand from rice and distinguishing between bad and good ingredients (meaning inedible ingrediants). Every piece of code must be useful in your program, and you must have justifiable reasons for everything you write. If you are using opensource components, you better understand those too, and you better know that although they are used widely they can have some serious security vulnerabilities.
As a head chef, you must be able to compensate for those, using your best judgement.
Anyone can learn to write Java. I can teach someone how to write a program in 5 minutes, but not everyone can develop. Development comes after years of being in the trenches, taking new approaches, not cowardly backing down when you don’t understand something.
True computer science is more like an art. When you’ve reached this point, when you have technical mastery, and the path you take is literally your choice. You make the best decision you can with the ingredients you have.
There is no end in learning, and the more you learn, the more you realize how much of a beginner you are.
Multitasking is a marketing buzzword that has no room in my kitchen. I’ve created a formula that states the quality of the end result of a task is based on the single task divided by the number of items that are being focused on. When you are preparing a salad, prepare the salad.
80% of development is testing, testing and testing. You find issues, you improve. You constantly strive to better your recipes.
Regardless of the ingredients… maybe the project or the API’s you are using just aren’t as exciting or sexy as that new REST service you are working on or the Inversion of Control approach you are taking, or whatever polymorphic madness you are working on. lol You can’t distinguish. If you do, your end product will reflect your lack of enthusiasm. Treat all your projects with respect and care.
You take care of others and yourself. You know that nothing satisfying comes from an easy path. You are meticulous and expect the highest standards from yourself and others. In this way, other people trust you because you give them the space to trust themselves. This is also extremely compassionate because you don’t micromanage but allow others to grow and also contribute, which is an amazing feeling.
You have the 3 minds: to steal from Shohaku Okumura. You are joyous, magnanimous and parental. You never take yourself too seriously, and you truly find joy in solving things and offering those to help people. You make a joke to lighten the morale of the team. You smile at someone having a bad day. You stop what you are doing and fully give your attention to someone who needs your help. You open your mind and encourage others to help you and contribute. You jump off the 100-foot pole (latest fun project) to solve a critical error, even though the new code is way, way, WAY more intellectually stimulating. You mentor and take care of your co-workers, and you never ever cut them down.
Work practice is Zen. This is the way of the precepts; this is the ultimate way to have your dream job. The thing is, I feel that you contribute to society whether you like it or not, just by virtue of being a human in this world. You don’t need to be a nurse, or something that is stereotypically thought to be healing, although if you are nurse, God bless you; that is a hard hard job. My point is that I feel, you can be a healer and a giver in whatever you do; the only rub is that you must really really care about what you do.
This is what gets me excited every day when I go to work. How to make things better for others, whether or in software or just to ease tension.
These are the things that I find in work practice… and I need a lot of practice. lol
Oh most importantly, like in Shikantaza when you feel your practice is stale or not in the honeymoon phase anymore… the most important thing to me is “just show up”.
Gassho and Happy Ango,
Risho
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