(Repost from 2006)
So this film producer and I were chatting on the train back from Copenhagen and we got on the subject of working for Yahoo! and I was telling him about how I got a very unique perspective about the major news events the last 7 years. Almost 100% of the people out there hear about a huge news story and go to the tv or internet and find out more about it.
My job as a news engineer is sort of twisted, when a huge news events happens, my only concern at that moment is not about that news event, how many people died. My concern is about whether we have enough server capacity to handle the news event, what type of news articles are we getting from our wire services, and how to get those stories up to our web servers as soon as possible.
The most memorable time was sept. 11 when David Filo calmly asked me how we could satisfy infinite demand for news? I remember that day well, because I felt my blood was cold, not because of the event but my mind was completely focused, I was in the moment, trying to solve that one particular problem David posed for me.
I’ve often written about how lucky I am to be working for Yahoo! How I am part of a team here at Yahoo! News who touch the lives of more than 30 million users every month. If I infer from our data, over 7 years, what we’ve done here at Yahoo! News has touched the lives of over 100 million users. How many people have that opportunity to work in a job where that little bit of cyber dust gets distributed from your fingers tips to that many users? I count my blessings.
Now back to the film producer: he looked at me and said that he is very happy for me. For finding that peace, able to look back at my career and reflect on what I’ve accomplished.
He said “Life is really just about 2 things. Work and Love” I infer from what he said: work is how you fit into this world and how you define yourself. Love is what’s in your heart and what’s in your soul. I got slightly wet at the corner of my eyes as I think about whether I’ve given my love from my heart and from my soul. Most probably not.. more to work on.
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