I look back on my "career", and I use the word advisedly because it hasn't been a constant path and I think about what I've accomplished. I'm frequently asked in interviews what I'm most proud of. I suppose other than creating my self-funded startup and running it successfully for seven years it would be some of the work I produced.
Oddly enough, it wasn't the biggest or most well-known sites that I'm proud of. It's the two sites that actually did (and still do!) something to better people's lots: HIV Insite and Smoking Stops Here. HIV Insite remains the no. 1 information resource for HIV and AIDS sufferers, some twelve years after we built it. Smoking Stops Here I did two years ago - both of these were team efforts - and I firmly believe it continues to change peoples' lives.
What concerns me is that I cannot say that the work I'm doing now will ever have the same effect. Indeed, it will be forgotten in another six months. I've been well compensated for it, and done a good job and it's all pointless in the long run.
I feel a crying need to do something that will make a difference. I think that will be the next decision point for me in my career. If it doesn't have the potential of bettering people's lives, what's the point?
Posted by artandscience at March 15, 2008 11:19 AM