How Perl and The Monastery changed my life

This is my story, how Perl and the monastery has changed my life, and how it affected my thinking...

Let's roll back a bit to check out who I am. My name is Chady Kassouf and I am now 3^rd year studying architecture at the Lebanese University.. it needs a low tuition so that was what I could afford by the time I joined.. but my real aim was for Computer Science, and I couldn't afford bigger universities because of the high cost, and this major does not exist in the LU. So I went on with architecture... until recently, I discovered - in fact I admitted - that I hated it.

What made me think that way after all this time, you might wonder...so here's the story

I first 'investigated' about perl when the company I work at as a part time job wanted a script to send e-mails from the server.. so I searched within the most common searches, and after looking at some code, I liked the way it looked, then I saw this book on the selves at work called "Programming with Perl" so I started reading... then I joined the monastery at the end of summer.. and as I ranked up in levels, and as I knew more about Perl and programming styles and the art of programming.. I found myself coming back again and again to the monastery, whenever I have a small free time, I found myself reading from the book, trying some code, or roaming the monastery...

Until I finally admitted it... I'm leaving architecture... no more of that.. that's not for me.. I'm here to program.. so here was my decision :

I will leave architecture, although I'm third year, and I will continue my curren job (Web/Graphic Designer) BUT I will go for computer science...

when I told my teacher my intentions, he encouraged me, and said that he will see about getting me financial aids at a good university around...

If I never joined the monastery and filled my head with programming ideas and all the talk about coding.. I might have never left architecture, and I might have had a miserable time in the futur working...

So once again, Perl and the Monastery played their magic in helping people.. Thanx a lot guys.. I will now rest happy...

He who asks will be a fool for five minutes, but he who doesn't ask will remain a fool for life.

Chady | http://chady.net/

Comment on How Perl and The Monastery changed my life

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Re: How Perl and The Monastery changed my life by Mission (Hermit) on May 10, 2001 at 18:49 UTC
I know how you feel. It's like a calling that you get. You're lucky that the calling hit you during your school years. I work at a university, and I can tell you that it's easier to get your education while you are in the mode. Once you get out in the workforce, it's difficult to make that comittment again. I've had a few students who have worked for me, that dropped out to make some quick money, and they almost never come back. I posted a comment awhile back about my previous jobs and how I'm glad that I'm doing what I do now (University Web Coordinator). I'm glad that you made the decision to change directions in life. It's good to do that, and then most importantly "DON'T LOOK BACK!" If your happier doing Perl and working with computers, then who cares what you 'could' have been doing. I know that I appreciate your presence in the monestary. Most importantly, we wish you great future success! *- Mission* "Heck I don't know how to do it either, but do you think that's going to stop me?!!"	[reply]
Re: How Perl and The Monastery changed my life by tune (Curate) on May 11, 2001 at 01:37 UTC
I think that nowadays Perl is NOT ENOUGH... And it is a sorrowful fact. You must know a bunch of other programming languages, if you want a real good job. The IT people thinks that Perl is only good for system administrators to create background processes for their own crypted needs. Of course it 's not true, but if you want to develop interesting and robust projects you have to know Java, etc. On the other hand I feel sometimes, that would be nice to know other professions, not just computers. For example i would learn architecture, just to become a good architect who can write useful Perl scripts :-) You see as lot of the world as you know it... -- tune	[reply]
Re: How Perl and The Monastery changed my life by markjugg (Curate) on May 11, 2001 at 02:44 UTC
Thanks sharing that Chady. I entered College thinking I was going to go into Civil Engineering (although I considered Architecture.) I eventually switched to Computer Science because a PASCAL class I took seemed "easy". (It was "easy" because I enjoyed it.) At this point, I thought my calling was graphic design, although there was no major for it at my school. I did a lot of graphic design ou the side in college. Towards the end of college, I started a website development with a fellow Computer Science major. I thought I would be providing primarily graphic design services for us. (And in fact, I could barely program in Perl or C at the time, and PASCAL wasn't hip.) Eventually I started programming in Perl, I think because we had more programming projects coming in the door than design projects. I discovered that I actually enjoyed programming in Perl, perhaps more than graphic design. Fast foward a couple years. Now my role in the organization has shifted, and I do Perl and database work full time, and in my spare time maintain a large Perl/SQL driven website and an associated open source Perl project. Another accidental Perl Programmer. And Yes, I appreciate the Monastery for it's presence and support. -mark	[reply]