“I am what I do.” - Ploughman (From the film ‘The Uprising’)

It’s a great film and this line stuck with me.

I thought of it again earlier when I heard someone (Kevin) talking about how technology (as a tool) impacts and changes us as we use it.

How do the tools we use change our identity in Christ? As image bearers of God? As citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven?

I was prompted to think about the question: “Who am I?”

While in a room with many people who identify themselves by the job they do (frequently “I’m a developer”) or even by a particular technology they use (“I’m a Python developer”) the question seemed even more important.

A few times I was asked “What are you? A developer?” (It must be something about how I look.) I always pause to answer this question.
They’re not asking who or what I am. They’re asking what I can do, what my skills are, or what I’m capable of.

I pause because in my work I’m part developer and part product owner (with all that entails).
I try to think of myself as an employee who serves our customers by providing software that is valuable to them.

But that’s not what or who I am.

The cliche is that we’re human beings, not human doings.

As AI changes what many people who work as developers see as their role, the question of identity becomes more and more frequently asked and potentially more important.

It sounds weird but I hope I get better at saying “I am what I be.”

Our identity isn’t based on skills or job titles. It comes from something much more important and long lasting.

Who am I?
I’m a child of God, a follower of Christ, a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a cousin, an uncle, someone interested in technology, and someone who occasionally writes weird things on the internet. ;)