Why This Book Exists
I didn't set out to write a book about life. It never crossed my mind.
People who know me know I talk more easily about technology. Security. Programming. Systems. Projects. That's the stuff I can hand over without thinking about it.
Life is different. I only talk about life when someone closes the door and asks.
That's how this started. Conversations after class, in hallways, beside my desk, on the stairs. Messages from students years after they'd graduated.
One question turned into another, and slowly I noticed the same ones kept coming back.
"Ham, I'm stuck."
"I don't know what to do."
"I'm working, but I'm still broke."
"I chose this path, but I don't know if it's right."
"Ham, I'm lost."
I never had perfect answers. Most of the time I was still working it out myself. But I listened, and I told them what I'd seen. What I'd got wrong. What I wish someone had explained to me earlier.
That's all this is. Some of the stories are mine. Some came from students. Some came from failing at something. A few only made sense years afterwards.
If it saves you one bad decision, one wasted year, or one regret you didn't need to carry, it was worth writing.
And maybe one day my son or daughter will find these pages. Maybe by then I won't be around to explain any of it myself. But the pages can stay.
So if you're lost right now. Confused. Or just sitting there wondering what comes next.
Pull up a chair.
Let's talk.