'Hello World' meet the Renaissance Man

Well it's about damn time!  I got the idea to start this blog several months back when my brother-in-law, who has attempted to get me to learn everything from C to Javascript, sat me down for a weekend long Python crash course.  Call it one of those magic moments (programmers, please chime in if this has ever happened to you...I don't want to seem weird!), but something just clicked.  For some unknown reason, the neurons in my brain said "yeah that makes sense".  From then on, I decided that Python would be my first real attempt at getting into programming.  

Don't get me wrong, I have tried other languages.  However, I have never gotten so inspired as to actually start a blog that would chronicle my journey through learning a language.  Trust me, you won't find any blogs by me about C++ or PHP.  So what inspired me about Python?  Well, in addition to the aforementioned magic moment, I also had an epiphany of sorts.  On the same weekend that my eager and ambitious brother-in-law was attempting to cram all of Python into my brain, I also attended a conference that really served as an eye opener.  The conference itself was nothing great, but the people there really made me think.  Without going into detail, lets just say this conference was very beginner at best.  Now there is nothing wrong with that, after all I am beginner at best.  What really struck me though, was the mindset of many of the conference attendees.  It basically boiled down to "If I can't do it, well I'll just pay someone else to do it for me".

First off, I have nothing against paying other people to do things for you in the world of development and programming.  There are tons of brilliant people out there with amazing skills that I wouldn't think twice about dropping some coin on.  My problem is this.  I have this philosophy that I adopted as soon as I decided to work in the tech sector.  This maybe a re-hash of some guru's saying, but basically I believe that in the world of tech, you are either moving forward or standing still.  Call me paranoid, but in my view, if you are standing still, then you are getting passed by all those folks moving forward.  It is my firm belief that you constantly have to keep moving forward with your skill set.  Becoming complacent and thinking that what you know now is good enough for the duration of your career is a dangerous assumption.  I feel this is the case for any profession, but definitely in the tech sector, were change happens at such a rapid pace.  In high school I was turned on to the notion of the "Renaissance Man".  A "Renaissance Man" is one who strives for knowledge and whom possesses a diverse skill set.  So, consider this blog and the work I put into learning Python as my attempt to keep moving forward toward that persona of the "Renaissance Man".