The people that I would have on my own Cabinet of Invisible Counselors would be Wes Bos, Scott Tolinski, Grace Hopper, and John Papa. Each one of these people are influential figures in the field of programming, and each one of them are very successful in their own regard.
Wes Bos is someone that I’ve talked extensively about in previous entries. He is a very successful web developer that creates content in the form of educational courses, teaching people different frameworks and technologies. He works for himself, and prioritizes work/life balance. His experience and know-how in the path to getting to that point would be very beneficial to have in my ear.
Scott Tolinski is someone that I became aware of by following Wes Bos. He is also a freelance developer that primarily creates courses. His emphasis on making sure you have time for your hobbies is something else I am passionate about, and he has a very organized and productive workflow that I am trying to learn so I can follow in his footsteps.
Grace Hopper is one of the sole reasons our way of programming that we use today exists. She popularized the idea of machine-independent programming languages which led to the creation of COBOL – one of the most influential programming languages to ever exist. She joined the Navy Reserves in her mid 30’s, and worked hard to get her computing expertise out into the world. Being able to understand the hardships and the experiences of such an influential figure would be an amazing experience to have.
John Papa is a very popular web developer and Developer Advocate that speaks at many different conferences, namely on Angular (the technology I use the most nowadays). He is regarded as a source of truth for Angular style guides and developer career paths. I would love to have his input on matters that I come across in my career, especially considering I would love to be known for my Angular know-how and to be able to speak at conferences.
Being able to sit down with any number of influential figures would be amazing. I could sit and talk with any past president, or major players in the big world wars, or anyone really. Even though the majority of the people on my list are still around today, they are the first to come to mind.
On an unrelated note, this is halfway through my journaling experience. I’ve enjoyed most of the prompts so far, but some have been not so fun. I think I’ll try to continue this habit once I run out of prompts. I hope you have enjoyed reading them as much as I have enjoyed writing them.