Be a Technology Tourist

I was talking to Tara and we were marveling that in in 1997 15% of Americans had Passports. However, even now less than half do. Consider where the US is physically located. It's isolated in a hemisphere with just Canada and Mexico as neighbors. In parts of Europe a 30 minute drive will find three or four languages, while I can't get to Chipotle in 30 minutes where I live.

A friend who got a passport and went overseas at age 40 came back and told me "it was mind-blowing. There's billions of people who will never live here...and don't want to...and that's OK. It was so useful for me to see other people's worlds and learn that."

I could tease my friend for their awakening. I could say a lot of things. But for a moment consider the context of someone geographically isolated learning - being reminded - that someone can and will live their whole life and never need or want to see your world.

Travel of any kind opens eyes.

Now apply this to technology. I'm a Microsoft technologist today but I've done Java and Mainframes at Nike, Pascal and Linux at Intel, and C and C++ in embedded systems as a consultant. It's fortunate that my technology upbringing has been wide-reaching and steeped in diverse and hybrid systems, but that doesn't negate someone else's bubble. But if I'm going to speak on tech then I need to have a wide perspective. I need to visit other (tech) cultures and see how they live.

You may work for Microsoft, Google, or Lil' Debbie Snack Cakes but just like you should consider getting a passport, you should absolutely visit other (tech) cultures. Travel will make you more well-rounded. Embrace the ever-changing wonders of the world and of technology. Go to their meet-ups, visit their virtual conferences, follow people outside your space, try to build their open source software, learn a foreign (programming) language. They may not want or need to visit yours, but you'll be a better and more well-rounded person when you return home if you're chose to be technology tourist.

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