I have 28 days until I go for my interview in San Francisco. As the day approaches, I find myself filled with dread. Dread that I might be leaving a comfortable life to be on my own, completely separated from any kind of safety net. Dread that I will be turned down for the job, and have to come back and stay with my parents even longer. Dread that, if I do go, I am giving up opportunities that I only have in this area. And dread that maybe I won't be as happy as I thought I would be in San Francisco.
As time has marched ever onward, both too quickly and not quickly enough, I have been further honing my craft. I've been working on a cheap app that will hopefully put some food on the table when I publish it. It's nothing fancy, just another piece of bloatware that will hopefully cause at least a few people to smile and chuck a dollar at me. I have also been working on plans for a non-profit makerspace, but is future is fuzzy at best.
Don't get me wrong. I know exactly what I want it to be. The problem is in funding and general interest. There are a few maker/hackerspaces in the area, but none of them is particularly successful. They have their dedicated member bases, but they are sort of inaccessible to the public, even if they claim to be totally open. I already have a building picked out, and, better yet, it's an old abandoned historical building that a non-profit is currently trying to find a use for! Not only does it have a simply massive amount of space, it's easy to find and get to, and i near a bunch of fairly well-populated areas. The only downside is that the non-profit that currently has control over it is very. . .artsy.
I have nothing against artists, or against artistic non-profits. But they have been reticent in the past to allow any kind of engineering or scientific work to be done, due to either their worry that their mission statement (and therefore their non-profit status) would be in jeopardy, or an inherent dislike of STEM subjects. I have bad experiences with art programs taking money and resources from science programs due to biased administration in every school and college I have ever attended. I hardly think the real world will be any different.
But, well, this could all be a moot point in 28 days. I might not even be here anymore. And, again, that scares me. This is a good idea, and would be a great service to this community, as well as the greater community of science and engineering (and even art!). If I think that I can make a bigger difference here, with this makerspace, wouldn't I be honor bound to turn down the job in San Francisco? Sure, out there I'd be doing a job that I kind of enjoy, for a company that I love. But if I stay here, I have the chance at doing something that I simply love, to the benefit of possibly thousands of students, engineers, teachers and the community as a whole. Don't I owe it to the place that has been my home for going on 15 years to give something back?
I don't know.
