Building on Purpose

Fourteen years ago, engineer Bret Victor gave his viral Inventing on Principle talk, in which he shared his radical beliefs on the importance of humane design. To Bret, creating tools with fast feedback is deeper than a design principle — it’s a moral imperative. He believed it was wrong to make things with unnecessary delays. His work on the iPad, a new programming language, and an experimental research lab attest to the purity of this mission. Regardless of whether you share Bret’s beliefs, his authenticity is indisputable. He’s given up status, predictability, and wealth in pursuit of a more humane digital world.

How many of us quietly envy this level of commitment?

Every modern engineer has the power to create anything they can imagine. Yet we’re so eager to trade our power for security, to use our skills to build a reality that we don’t resonate with.

It’s understandable why we sign up for the safe 9-5: there aren’t any other alternatives for engineers.

Wrong.

In this talk, I’ll present a collage of foundational principles that are sturdy enough to build a life upon, along with an archetype that has already lived this way. Here’s a sample:

• Principle, Bret Victor.
• Security, Cal Newport.
• Goals, Satya Nadella.
• Fun, Linus Torvalds.
• Craft, DHH.
• Power, Elon.
• Attention, Fireship.
• Faith, me.

My goal isn’t to pitch you on one principle. Instead, it’s to show that there are many substantive ways to structure life as an engineer. Like system architects reviewing design docs, we’ll take a sober look at the tradeoffs of each. By the end, you’ll have a menu of options and more clarity about which might be right for you.

This talk is for builders who

• are unfulfilled in their role but don’t like their alternatives
• know what they really want to do but are too afraid to act
• have very little to show for their hard work

RECOMMENDED: Bring pen and paper. We’ll spend 10 minutes creating our own life maps. It’ll hit better if you draw it by hand.

• Beginner
• Soft Skills
• Careers
• Wildcard