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“No good deed ever goes unpunished.” I’ve said this more times than I care to admit, usually in the aftermath of trying to help someone and ending up with more problems than I started with. It’s a peculiar thing – the people you’d expect to be grateful are often the ones who punish you most for trying. I think about my parents sometimes, how every time I offer to sort something out or take on a burden, it somehow spirals into getting used. The intention is never in doubt but the outcome always ends up feeling used. ...

“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby I read this somewhere and it stuck with me because it’s true in a way that feels obvious until you actually try to live by it, and even then it’s hard. We all have advantages we never asked for and rarely notice – the kind of things that just make life slightly easier, like being born into a family that didn’t struggle to put food on the table, or having parents who went to university and could help you with homework without feeling lost themselves, or arriving in a country where you speak the language and look like most of the people around you. None of these things were earned. They just happened. And they add up in ways that are impossible to quantify but impossible to ignore. ...

Every problem contains a hidden opportunity. In IT especially – one person’s challenge is another person’s chance to build something better.