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jrtomMy friend ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fdmts recently posted a brief note regarding some unexpectedly positive feedback from one of his customers. Apparently he's somewhat taken aback (albeit partially in jest) at this.
In the comments, I noted that this sort of thing is why I like working on JUNG.
More fundamentally, though, it's occurred to me that this is part of why I like working in a setting in which I have "customers" of some sort or another. In academia, positive feedback arrives in the form of accepted papers, citations, promotions, and perhaps occasional positive comments after presentations ("that's really cool--I wonder what happens if you..."). This is all cool...but rarely, however, will you hear something of the form "hey, what you did really helped me solve this problem--thanks!"
It's not just that I want to work on real problems, but I like being _seen_ to be have helped people with real problems. Vain, perhaps, but there you go.
fdmts recently posted a brief note regarding some unexpectedly positive feedback from one of his customers. Apparently he's somewhat taken aback (albeit partially in jest) at this.In the comments, I noted that this sort of thing is why I like working on JUNG.
More fundamentally, though, it's occurred to me that this is part of why I like working in a setting in which I have "customers" of some sort or another. In academia, positive feedback arrives in the form of accepted papers, citations, promotions, and perhaps occasional positive comments after presentations ("that's really cool--I wonder what happens if you..."). This is all cool...but rarely, however, will you hear something of the form "hey, what you did really helped me solve this problem--thanks!"
It's not just that I want to work on real problems, but I like being _seen_ to be have helped people with real problems. Vain, perhaps, but there you go.
