Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Difficult experiences can change your perspective on what is difficult and what is easy. I recently went through such a difficult experience. Now, if I could just recreate that in a safe place so that others can grow as well.

On Friday afternoon December 18th, my wife, youngest son, and I started driving south on Interstate 81 in Virginia. We were heading to Louisiana for Christmas. We were met by a northbound storm that delivered about 20 inches of snow to every place in its path.

We drove in traffic for an hour at 20 miles per hour. Then traffic stopped. We sat still for three hours. The events that followed are exciting, frightening, and boring. And please note that during all this, it is snowing hard, the temperatures are in the mid-20s, and every half hour we have to clean the ice off our windshield wipers.

• Turn around on I-81
• Drive north one mile
• Exit, but stop because three cars are stuck on the exit ramp
• Back down the exit ramp
• Drive another mile north on I-81
• Exit I-81
• Drive past three motels (that may have been full anyways) to try Route 11
• Lose traction on a steep hill on Route 11
• Be pulled up the steep hill on Route 11
• Drive a mile on Route 11
• Pull into a Shell station on Route 11 next to I-81
• Stay at the Shell station for nine hours (running the engine to stay warm and dry)
• Start south on I-81 at 9:30 AM
• Drive 20 miles per hour all alone on I-81 for an hour (it is a bit spooky to be the only vehicle on a major Interstate, what does everyone else know?)
• Take a couple of detours
• Finally reach cleared roads
• The End

We were in a Chevy van. Vans have poor traction in the snow. I had my wife and son sit in the back seat to add some traction to the rear tires. Every snow-covered hill was an adventure – the hardest, most tense driving in my life. What I thought was difficult driving is now simple. When stuck in traffic in Louisiana, and that happens often in the post-Katrina era, I tell people, “at least it isn’t snowing.”

I have heard sayings like, “if it doesn’t kill me it only makes me stronger” and “it’s a confidence-building exercise.” Well, those statements are true, at least for me.

Let’s move on from driving in the snow to professional pursuits. The military has boot camps where recruits are pushed beyond what they think they can do. Parts of war seem easy compared to the drill instructor. We don’t have boot camps in the computing professions. Sure, some parts of college seem tough at the time, but not that tough. If you continue on for a Master’s degree it can be tougher. If you suffer through a PhD program it can be even tougher. I now wonder how much of graduate school was just an exercise to show me how mean, inconsiderate, and obnoxious people can be.

I don’t advise tossing your team of programmers and engineers out in a snow storm in a van with bad traction and telling them to climb a series of dangerous hills. I wish I knew how to recreate that experience and turn what was hard into something much easier. Suggestions are welcome.