The Importance of Developers' Social Circles

     I just received a phone call this evening from Philip F., a previous quasi-co-worker (an employee at a software shop for whom I used to contract) and we took some time to catch up on how things have been in both of our personal/professional worlds.  I took the time to explain that I was no longer working as an employee for a New Jersey based internet hosting provider, and he informed me that he was now teaching some of the same classes on web based coder that he himself had just completed as a student.  Just for the record, he's been coding for almost two decades, it was more of a catchup on certain technologies with which he didn't focus on professionally.

     This eventually led into the topic of getting plans together for grabbing dinner together, as our previous plans to do so were disrupted at the last minute and we'd not had the opportunity to reschedule.  We're going to do so this time and it made me think of how important it is for developer/engineers and architects to spend time face to face, even over something as ubiquitous as dinner.   We need this kind of camaraderie as a means of acquiring new information that while not directly affecting each of us in the same manner, it does provide us expanded horizons.  

     Getting together over some nice Indian, Thai or Moroccan food while chatting away aimless on topics as innocuous petty work incidents to full blown coding feats is a means by which we as a community of software professionals bond.  It is this circle of connections which proves to be the most rewarding in terms of contacts for future work, but more so importantly, for our own social well being, knowing that others share some of the same pains prevalent in the coding environment through which we endure to produce wonderful products.  

     This reminds me of many, *many* years back when from 1987 through 1996 I owned and operated an electronic bulletin board system (BBS) called Somerton Telecomm International BBS (also known as Somerton Telecomm as well as Somerton BBS).  We had 6,000+ verified users in 39 countries and 42 US states, 12 phone lines and a very active user base, but ultimately it was the weekly dining get-togethers at 01:00 in the morning at locale eating establishments (the great Northeastern United States collections of diners as it were) to munch on food whilst blabbering away, in person to others on various topics of interest to all those involved.  We would spend hours, sometimes longer just go off verbally on anything and everything online related or otherwise.  

     It is exactly this kind of face to face interaction that helps to grown the world view of a given coder, as well as assist in the act of interacting with others in a more relaxed environment.  So I suggest to everyone out there, contact previous coders, architects and/or engineers with whom you've worked and arrange to get together over a glass of wine, or a formal meal, and simply enjoy the company of a peer with whom you can speak openly, about so many varied topics.  I'm sure that there are more than a few topics via which you can converse happily. 

     Don't wait, take action today, your mental stability will thank you.

Perspectives: Moving On to Greener Pastures, with Perks.

It is amazing how quickly situations and environments change.  One moment I’m in what I consider a bait-and-switch job, and the next I find I’m getting calls and offers from every direction.  As is par for the course, only a small percentage of the positions availed and/or offered to me were of true interest to me at this point in my career.  I’m appreciative for the opportunities availed by those companies, individuals and startups with whom I’ve spoken to and/or met personally in the past two months, and I wanted to state that for the record, but that brings me to the present.

My new position as Chief Software Architect for several companies belonging to a successful  entrepreneur.  This is not a new experience for me, but I have to say that the flexibility included with this new position provides me a certain level of freedom sorely missing from the anomaly that was my previous position.  I wholeheartedly look forward to this new venture and know for sure that two days from now (as of this writing), when I am on my way to New York to meet up with one of the firms for which I will be helping to reshape technology-wise, that I made the right decision.

I will miss interacting with my soon to be former co-workers, though I won’t miss the rest of the environment there, which ironically was one of the original reasons for choosing the position in the first place.   Conversely, just as I have things that I will miss with my soon to be former position, I have much to look forward to with my newer role and corporate overlord.  Either way, I have much for which to prepare and at this point I’m already planning the establishment of the core tech upon which to base the new infrastructure.  I’m thinking Postgesql, Python, Java and OpenSUSE on a Core 2 Duo platform, and in a later entry, I’ll be discussing which of the aforementioned technologies upon which I decided, but until then..  

Coding in 'The Zone'

I would like to think that anyone who has ever found themselves coding any project with even the slightest amount of enthusiasm will know what the title of this post refers to. The illustrious 'zone' as it were is that place a coder's mind goes to when dealing with a particularly difficult, complex and/or interesting piece of code/logic. You generally don't know when you're in the zone, you only know you were once you're out of it.

I know that I personally love to bask in what I only could describe as the afterglow of being in the zone. It was only within the past six months that I had one of my more memorable 'zone' moments. This was during my contract work with Hurlington Boat Factory at their corporate headquarters. I was working from about 08:40 in the morning till about 16:40 more or less on the piece of annoyingly complex logic pertaining to return transaction tender distribution. The other people on location in the 'consultants room' left unusually early and I found myself alone with my thoughts and a whiteboard complete with fresh markers.

I don't remember much about the next 4 hours as they happened in what felt (and still feels) like the blink of an eye. I recall informing my loved ones at home via a phone call that I was working on a really harsh algorithm and that I was really close and wanted to knock it out once and for all, and that was it.. Next thing I noticed, I was done. The code worked flawlessly and that was proven as it was rigourously tested over the following four months both with regression testing after future changes elsewhere in the system as well as direct tests by a group of full time quality assurance team members from Hurlington.

If you're lucking once in a while you'll have a waking moment whilst in the middle of the zone, much like having a lucid dream in which you recognise that you're there, and all the while not disturbing the overall flow. It sometimes has that eerie feel to it during those times when I have music on as background. Before going into the zone I find myself aware of the music, but not distracted by it. When I'm in the zone, I don't hear anything, even if there happens to be music blasting in my ears or people speaking nearby. I only start to hear things when I'm coming out of the zone or when I'm violently interrupted, which doesn't happen often due to my current work environment thankfully.

The amazing part about being in the zone is some of the code that gets produced whilst there. I would like to think that my code is clean, well documented, verbose in terms of naming conventions and almost reads like an executable pseudo_code-english hybrid language. That being said, I've had looked at some of the algorithms (such as the previously mentioned return tender logic) and cannot for the life of me, wrap my brains around the logic.

Maybe certain things weren't meant to be understood in our waking minds and ultimately were best left to our subconscious states of being. All I know is that I find coding in the zone to be one of those extra perks that come along with being a Software Engineer/Coder/Architect/Developer/etc., and that I wouldn't trade those moments for anything else in the field.

My Adventures in Software Engineering Consulting

  Starting in August of 2006 I ventured into the world of independent Software Engineering contracting.  Having just completed my previous salaried tenure at a financial firm, and a small side stint for a Fashion magazine as a favour to the owner(s)., I came upon a new offering.  I was hesitant at first because it was a 1099 contract job, a realm I’d never ventured into before in my professional career, and as such the time had apparently come. 

    The position was simple, the company in question was a contractor to a large retail clothier whose name rhymes with ‘Hurlington Boat Factory’ and is located in a town in New Jersey possessing a similar sounding name.  The CEO of the contracting firm requested specifically someone with considerable experience in Python who could build a real-time return transactions processing system which would utilise both XML and Oracle 10g.  While I have a strong dislike (along with many other software engineers) for XML, the reality of getting paid decent money for coding 100% in Python was all that I needed to hear.

    I have to say that I was excited not only because of the prospect of a Python pure coding environment but that I would be working initially and then periodically out of a satellite office in Cherry Hill.  This was exciting because for the first time in my decade plus career, I was finally in a scenario where I was writing code for a company whose primary purpose was producing JAVA software applications for sale.  The office in Cherry Hill consisted primarily of the CEO, a lead developer and a secondary developer.  There were several other individuals who would at times utilise the office including the owners, project managers and other associates of various roles, but ultimately it was an office with other competent coders one of those being quite the master of Cold Fusion technologies.  

    After my first few weeks on site in the Cherry Hill office it was time to start working on-site at Hurlington’s headquarters along with the only other consultant coding in Python.  This was the beginning of a very enjoyable period in the contract due to the excitement of the project and the joy and experience of worthing with another Pythonista.   

    The details of the project are much like any other project you might encounter when modelling a new project off of a customer version produced for a specific client.  It got ugly for a while due to the multiple aspects of the project including client systems which needed to be integrated for proper functioning along with an existing array of registers distributed nationwide and a database number records approach a half a billion entries.  The normal in fighting and finger pointing existed but it was all worked out in the end with a finished product delivered and a contract satisfied 100 percent. 

    The only issues encountered which left a bad taste in my mouth were those pertaining to a clueless project manager who regardless of his claim of years of experience was apparently lacking considerably outside of his realm of Oracle, which caused unnecessary attitude due to his ignorance of coding and APIs.  There were other issues dealing primarily with suits, but I doubt that this specific issues varies much anywhere.  Suits and Engineers rarely if ever mix, let alone get along except on a faux-cordial level.   The ultimate end of the contract was due to the project portion I was responsible for coming to fruition, even though I was already working on leaving regardless.   It wouldn’t have mattered much anyway given that the main contracting company is located up north in the centre of New England and are in the process of relocating everyone to that locale, an act which I am unwilling to do.

    I do like certain aspects of software consulting, but given that there is a considerable amount of extra taxes which must be held aside, some unholy hours which must be adhered to for the purposes of meeting quite strict time lines, and the reality of being a second class citizen in the work environment (or 3rd class in my case as a sub-contractor).  It all comes to an end in two days and I go back to a normal, preferred work environment in five days when I start up in a salaried position again working for a web host writing a multitude of applications and revisions of existing software, in a nice relaxed geek environment, also in New Jersey, but this time around, I’m excited to not be a consultant.   At least for the time being.