I am a bit weird, I'll admit it!

 I am a bit weird, I’ll admit it.

Recently, I got back to studying FastAPI for building Agentic AI and RAG engineering because I start an IIT Madras course on this very soon. This may sound very de riguer and nothing out of the ordinary for a professional techie like myself to embark upon. But while preparing for this course, I started studying the python programming language and got myself an IBM certification in developing python applications. Then I decided why stop there, and enrolled in a FastAPI course, of which I am about 60% through. Has it been easy, decidedly not, has it been boring, emphatically not, has it unearthed a side of me long lost to Project and Program Management? Most definitely!

Let me elaborate. I am at the worst of times intensely logical, rational and practical about nearly everything in life, apart from motorcycles & cigars. So while I decided to upskill and learn python and FastAPI, do you know what I discovered? I will enlighten you.

I discovered I needed a new desk in my house, and then I went about building myself one which utilised the dead space in my bedroom as you can see.

Then I decided I need to get a proper chair for this desk, and proceeded to procure a suitable seat for my derriere, given I intend to spend many many hours at this desk in the pursuit of conquering Skynet.

And finally I decided I had to have a switch. A metaphorical, metaphysical, literal switch which turned on STUDY mode and ended PLAY mode when I sat at said desk in the pursuit of great learning and the honest pursuit of excellence. This switch, I soon discovered came in the most simplest of ways. Just a humble baseball cap, humble only in its basic nature, and unassuming demeanour, but nothing short of Clark Kent’s glasses and suit; for the moment Clark sheds those glasses and suit, he turns into the legendary SuperMan, and the instant I put on the cap, I turn into a similarly motivated super-learner! Just stretching the seams of reality and welcoming the onset of pure coding bliss!

So I wear a cap when I am studying Python and FastAPI. The wife mocks this approach and calls me weird, so be it! It works for me. Whether it marks me out as being a geek or a nerd, or simply a kook, I dont really care, because:

from dataclasses 

import dataclass 

@dataclass 

class Mindset: 

wears_cap: bool 

def evaluate(self): 

if self.wears_cap:

learning_mode = "ON" 

ego = "OFF" 

outcome = "upskilling" 

distraction = None 

else: 

learning_mode = "OFF" 

ego = "ON" 

outcome = "stagnation" 

distraction = "high" 

return { 

"learning_mode": learning_mode, 

"ego": ego, "outcome": outcome, 

"distraction": distraction, } 

# Example Usage 

current_state = Mindset(wears_cap=True) 

print(current_state.evaluate())