Six weeks have gone by fast. I’m at the end of the first part of my Flatiron journey, and I feel great so far! The final requirement for the first unit is to create a CLI program that draws data from an external source, namely via an API or scraping. I found an API for breweries in the United States, and since I enjoy a good craft beer from time to time and I live in one of the top cities for craft beer in the world, I thought I’d build a program that helps users locate breweries to check out.
Some people grow up knowing exactly what they want to do. I knew that I didn’t want to choose. I had so many interests, so many things that fascinated me about the world. How could I favor just one? Now, over the years, I’ve come to understand the beauty of specialization. The profound advantage of deep and nuanced understanding of a particular subject cannot be overstated. But what I’ve also (thankfully) come to understand is that specialization, or deep entrenchment in one peculiar subject, can blind you in a way. I’ve had a lot of incredible opportunities to broaden my experience in life (flying planes, teaching English as a second language, working as a professional cellist on a cruise ship, managing a restaurant, etc.), and each thing I have dived into has taught me something about the previous thing and prepared me in some way for the next. The in-between, the space that exists in the distance from one subject to another, holds so much.