#1. Who would pay me??? No company nor organization (even Smalltalk-related) cares enough about Smalltalk to hire a full-time advocate.
And even if they did, I have no track record at all in marketing and advocacy. They're buying a pig in a poke. #2. It I didn't step up, no one would. There is no other person on this planet who has the time nor inclination to take on this huge, thankless task. Smalltalk deserves a better fate than to languish in obscurity. It is so sad and pitiful to see where it is today, especially when it was once the most popular OO language in the world after C++. Smalltalk just barely made it onto the Top 100 at TIOBE this year. Just barely. #3. I believe in Smalltalk. More importantly, I believe that the language has the power to transform the software industry. If it can double the world's software development productivity – on average – imagine the impact on the global economy. I'm not spewing bullsh*t here. So this is my personal belief at work. #4. I saw a unique opportunity. Of all the less-than-major programming languages in the world (Clojure, Crystal, Dart, Elixir, Elm, F#, Go, Haskell, Haxe, Julia, Kotlin, Nim, Racket, Red, Rust, etc.), Smalltalk is the easiest one to advocate for. It's the one with the best chances of success. Why? - its historical legacy - its actual popularity in the 1990s - its commercial track record - its technical merits like simplicity, conciseness, live coding, etc. - its scientifically proven productivity, thanks to Namcook Analytics All of this allows me to tell a good story. A damn good story. And that's absolutely key in any marketing campaign. I could've devoted my time and energy to Elixir or Go or Nim. But it wouldn't have been nearly as satisfying. I saw an opportunity, and I took it. And I haven't looked back. Travis Ayres wrote > You worked without pay? ...why? > > On Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 8:53 AM horrido < > horrido.hobbies@ > > wrote: > >> I hear what you're saying. Here's my rationale... >> >> #1. As far as I know, I'm the only person on the planet who has worked >> full-time and without pay as a programming language advocate for nearly >> four >> years. Did I mention full-time and without pay? So I think you can trust >> me >> to deliver, come hell or high water. >> >> #2. For the past four years, I've shown my marketing skills in promoting >> Smalltalk. If you believe I've done a good job, then you can trust me to >> convince schools and the media to stand behind the competition. If you >> don't >> believe, then ignore me; I cannot convince you otherwise. >> >> #3. It is not my style to plan everything in advance and in detail. I do >> things by the seat of my pants, relying on my organizational skills, >> communication skills, and intuition. (That's how I develop software, >> too.) >> I >> can picture the whole competition in my mind and I trust my vision. I'm >> asking others to trust it, as well. If they don't, then this whole thing >> dies with me. >> >> In the final analysis, all I can do is my very best. I am who I am. If >> you >> don't believe in me, that's okay. >> >> >> SergeStinckwich wrote >> > Ok, the subject is completely different and maybe his topic is sensible >> > for >> > a lot of people but the concerns are the same. At the end, you need to >> > convince people to give you money. >> > >> > What is your budget ? what kind of competition you will organize ? how >> you >> > will convince schools/university to participate ? >> > How you will reward people for their participation ? >> > >> > Sorry to say, people will not give money just because you wrote a >> > half-page >> > statement. >> > >> > Best, >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html >> >> -- Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html
