A long time ago, after technical high school, I’ve worked a year for a big international company, where at their Carinthian plant they maintained some engineering staff. The crew was intended to support operations, and to fill the gaps they made side-projects. Names are irrelevant, but at that job I learned how technical soundness is routinely overridden by “from the guts” judgement of managers. I was appalled and I drew what seemed like the only possible conclusion: At the university I chose German Literature instead of Computer Science.
It took me a year to get back to computers. One reason were the two main lectures of the first semester, “The Influence of Ancient Mythology on German Baroque Lyrics” (or something close) and “Franz Kafka”.
I have always disliked lyrics of the Baroque age, and while I had the complete works of Kafka on my book shelves with the full intention to read them some time, I strongly felt that that time was absolutely the wrong time. I hated being force-fed literature and this was the end of my flirt with a non-technical career.
A few years ago I have finally read Kafka’s complete works - on the Kindle. It was the right time 😄