I think the last 2 posts were a little too short and lazily written; I want to write a longer non-code post. So this post is some of my thoughts and appreciation for libraries in my life recently.
At the time I got hired at UPS, I was living in an Airbnb near SeaTac, just after flying to the airport in SeaTac to move to Washington. I was desperate for a job and extremely lucky that UPS was in desperate need of seasonal workers. I was going through the application process where you can schedule your first shift without an interview (that was the best hiring process ever) and reached a point where I needed a second person to verify my identity. I didn’t know anybody, and it wasn’t an Airbnb where roommates were talking.
But there was a library within walking distance. I walked there (twice as I went too early) and explained the situation to the person at the front desk. They were able to help me, and after that, I finished the process and got hired. The day after that, I leveraged that job offer to buy a used Prius. A few days later, I started working at UPS with reliable transportation.
After the 2 weeks in SeaTac, I moved to a different Airbnb in Tacoma (to move closer to UPS), where I was for a month. I had some trouble checking in to a third Airbnb after that one, and ended up sleeping in my Prius at a rest stop off the highway for a night. Fortunately, I had already prepared for that just in case (sleeping bag and pad and folding the Prius back seats forward).
The following day (Saturday) I bought some shower slippers from Walmart, took a shower at Planet Fitness, and went and hung out at the Tacoma Fern Hill library to figure out where to go next, which I sort of did and then had a great time of programming. That day is what established to me how much I liked both taking a shower at Planet Fitness and programming at the library.
My routine became to go to Planet Fitness, shower there, go home for breakfast (sometimes skipped), go to a library, go home for lunch (sometimes skipped), go to the Fife library (sometimes skipped if the first library was already Fife), and that is where I would hang out before going in to work at UPS.
In my life so far, the only library I’ve spent more time in than that library in Fife is the Folsom library at RPI (where I went to college). I worked on puzzles there, I played Runescape there, kids asked me if I’m playing video games and how to play video games on the computers there, I programmed there, I SSHed to my Azure VM to debug issues with Apache configuration and restart systemd services there, I worked on job applications there, I spent time there focusing near bad smelling, maybe homeless people also focusing there, I used the study and meeting rooms there to do virtual practice coding interviews with my Discord friend, ChatGPT and I made a new software developer LaTeX resume there which also became my jobs resume.
I learned which libraries opened at 10am or 12pm, and I appreciated those late opening times as it encouraged me to go to the gym in the morning before going to the library. I went to the library at University Place a lot because it opened at 10am, earlier than some of the other libraries. That library is really nice; it is located inside that city’s hall and has a free public parking garage, with some restaurants outside the city hall too, like a pizza place. I played OldSchool Runescape there when I wanted to really concentrate (mostly trying to beat the final boss Seren in Song of The Elves–I still haven’t), I programmed there a lot, and when I got incredibly serious about making ends meet and applying to part time jobs (a Monday in the recent past), that was the library where I went and applied to jobs as seriously as I could for hours, sometimes getting some callbacks at the library while I was still applying, and doing that for days in a row.
Nearer to me, the Wheelock library is one of my favorites in the area. Sadly it’s closed right now for HVAC work inside, but when it was open over a month ago, I went a handful of times. It’s a nice spacious library with a lot of books and on the street corner outside there is a cool statue of surely an important guy stepping forward and extending his hand for a handshake. On the sidewalk walking into the library, you can hear the sounds of kids playing as there is a school/playground across the street and kids having recess. I spoke to a recruiter for an IT support technician job there one time, I checked out C# 7.0 in a nutshell from there. I learned from that checkout that books in this library system auto-renew and do not charge late fees. I was reading that book just today too when I arrived somewhere early and was waiting in my car (it has been autorenewing). Wheelock is also where I filled out onboarding paperwork for a full-time Computer Tech job which I was offered but then a contract between Dell and Boeing was lost (neither are the company that was hiring me) and they had to close the position.
Also nearer to me than the University Place library, the Swasey library is a bit smaller than Wheelock but it has a similar nice vibe. Usually I just program there, but when I look up, I am happy to see some adorable little persons walking around with their parents, taking part in some events there. Swasey and Wheelock were where I printed my resumes too.
I went to the Mottet library once to do some paperwork. I went to a library in Milton once when the Fife library’s Wifi was slow one day only to tear up there talking to ChatGPT about some heavy stuff before going back to the Fife library. I’m not sure if I’ve been to the library at Fern Hill a second time yet, but that was the first Tacoma library I visited.
At this time in my life, I am still working at UPS and about to be starting a second part time job. Libraries have been a constant in my life these past months of transition for me. I may spend less time there as I start working more, but I already know that going to the library and using that public space to focus will be one of the great decisive moments in my path to get a job as a software developer, whether it takes 6 months or 5 years, and building the life that I want to build.