Have you ever tried to explain what you do for a hobby and people look at you like you have a third eye? More often than not, when I tried to share my new hobby with others I would get caught up trying to explain stuff that I don’t even understand. I would use words like “kernel”, “soldering”, “learning”, and “programming”. Outside of the small community in which we take part, these are ugly words because they imply “work” and people generally don’t enjoy “work”. Most people don’t want to know how the thingy is made or how it works, they just want to hear an elevator pitch and not receive the detailed schematics, drawings, and technical jargon. This sad truth makes teaching a passion for Raspberry Pi almost impossible without the proper approach. I personally believe this same principle holds true in other areas of life as well.
First, a parable: I watched “Hudsucker Proxy” recently and loved it. It’s a little older film (1994) but it has an interesting concept that isn’t as obvious as the moral of the story or the plot. The concept was that everyone would look at you as if you were out of touch and a stuttering idiot saying things like “ya know, for kids”. You have to not only have a great idea, but you have to be able to make other people understand that idea in a few words or with a demonstration, and when words don’t do the trick, a demonstration has to hold its weight.
In this story, the main character shows everyone who will give him the time of day: a circle drawn on a piece of paper. The circle is his brilliant idea but his inability to name it, explain it, or otherwise build it, made his idea “dead on arrival”. He is promoted from mail boy to CEO in a matter of minutes solely to tank the company (a plan concocted by the board for dubious reasons to make the stock in Hudsucker drop so they could purchase it on the cheap). As CEO he can make his product happen and does.
In another scene, the elevator boy comes to him to show him his brilliant idea for what he called the “Buzzsucker” (his name was Buzz) which was a straw that allowed you to bend it and because his drawing also only looked like a circle on paper, the main character doesn’t understand it and thinks it is the dumbest thing he has ever heard of and dismisses it.
The main character has to give a presentation of his big idea at a board meeting. During his presentation all you see is his head moving violently while he is saying “Ya know, for kids”. As the camera pans out, you see that he is moving his hips to keep a hula-hoop in motion. The entire board thinks it is the most ridiculous thing and laughing all the way to production. The product is placed for sale at the local toy stores where no one buys it because no one understands it. After the price is dropped to “free with the purchase of anything” the store owner in one scene throws a bunch into the street. A small boy stumbles on it and like a hula-hoop master starts playing with it. That moment school let out and a bunch of kids were walking by when they saw this amazing toy, they immediately stopped, turned around, and bum-rushed the toy store and the price per hula-hoop doubled. In this case, the boy didn’t have to say a word. The demonstration alone was loud enough to get the attention of anyone who happened to be looking in his direction.
I continuously find myself talking to people about Raspberry Pi products and cool projects because let’s be honest, I nerd. Here is where the above parable really fits in. In my experience, most new people I come into contact with on a daily basis don’t know what a Raspberry Pi is. Also as soon as you explain that it’s a computer that you can program they immediately shut down and your voice goes on mute in their mind. This is the circle on paper. They no longer want a conversation with you.
What I have found as a great way to work around this and get friends involved with your projects or take an interest is to show them a demonstration. It doesn’t even have to be a “live” demonstration, pictures work. Raspberry Pi is a “circle on paper” until someone sees it around someone’s hips, mesmerizingly spinning and they can immediately understand the application, benefits, and fun involved.
Drew is a seasoned DevOps Engineer with a rich background that spans multiple industries and technologies. With foundational training as a Nuclear Engineer in the US Navy, Drew brings a meticulous approach to operational efficiency and reliability. His expertise lies in cloud migration strategies, CI/CD automation, and Kubernetes orchestration. Known for a keen focus on facts and correctness, Drew is proficient in a range of programming languages including Bash and JavaScript. His diverse experiences, from serving in the military to working in the corporate world, have equipped him with a comprehensive worldview and a knack for creative problem-solving. Drew advocates for streamlined, fact-based approaches in both code and business, making him a reliable authority in the tech industry.