The Importance of Being Challenged

In this most recent engineering, architecting and development endeavour which I simply refer to as my "job" or "contract", I have come to some conclusions which I feel require sharing.  I'll be very straightforward so as to not waste certain readers' time.  Many of the more seasoned lifetime coders will know (and have experienced many times over) that which I am writing about, which can be summed up as such:  If you are not being constantly challenged, you are atrophying as a developer.

I often write about my own experiences as I know them better than any single other developers experience(s).  This is not because I feel that I'm the end all be all of coders.  Far from it, I do feel that I'm good at what I do, however I prefer to look at my writings as a form of navel gazing, a self-reflective ascertaining how I can better grow in my art and profession.  It is exactly the same manner in which I'm going to proceed regarding today's message.

As I have mentioned, I have most recently jumped into a contract situation at the personal request of a rather successful life-long entrepreneur and given that the opportunity sounded rather interesting, I turned down a salaried position worth almost double because the challenge that was proposed.  Please don't get me wrong, I took a position fixing a half-assed php open-source hot or not style rating system because the employee responsible by no fault of his own necessarily, and due to a lack of a sense of urgency was unable to get a system such as that prescribed, in place by a contractual client deadline.  This was not the reason I took the contract, whilst simultaneously being precisely why I took the contract. 

I'm not a fan of php, and most definitely not a fan of a vast majority of already written php applications open source or otherwise.  What I am referring to more so is that I was brough into an environment where it wasn't the same old same old.  Now I wouldn't have stayed were the job going to continually require php specifically just out of my distaste of said language.   I did know that while I don't consider myself a web developer, I would be required on more than one occasion to work on web applications.  

These weren't to all be simple ones either, any moderately proficient web developer and non-web developer alike could figure a good many of these solutions out.   What really did it for me was that I would be required to not only work under a fairly frequent set of short deadlines due to the nature of the publishing industry as well as the time frame required to keep the site and features current.

The importance of all off these ramblings is this simple point.  Being experienced and disciplined as a Software Engineer/Developer/Architect, etc. ad nauseam helps me to know 'what' I need to do, and gives me insight as to how I might go about solving an issue.  It is however, the actual specifics which put those tidbits of understanding and knowledge into play which go outside a given comfort zone.  It is only then, when we find ourselves in unfamiliar territory, under threat of tight deadlines coupled with our own personal desires to do our best and produce code to which we are proud to associate our name.  

I know that earlier in my career there were times (albeit very few, which I can honestly say) that I too fell into this 'comfort zone'.  I found out though, that this comfort zone is boring and causes one to stagnate.  We code because we love it.  Coding and problem solving is in our blood, and in our hearts.  It is how we look at the world and as such isn't something from which we can remove ourselves.  

If you only know low-level languages, learn a high level language.  If you only work in functional programming paradigms, learn object or aspect oriented ones.  If you only work with interpreted languages, learn compiled langauges, etc.  I'm not saying give up your current lingua franca, I'm simply saying expand your horizons.  The more ways you have of looking at, describing and ultimately understanding a given problem, the more ways you have to solve said problem.  This doesn't solely benefit you, it benefits everyone for whom your code will be written and utilised. 

You knowledge needs to be a living, dynamic pool of information, not a static, never changing one and the way to ensure that is to aggressively fight off the status quo.  Be aggressive, absorb all that you can.  The best way to do this isn't by dipping your toes into the shallow end of the kiddie pool, it is accomplished by putting on your goggles and climbing that high dive, plunging in head first.  

Take a chance for once, you might just learn something.  

Till next time..

Reflections on 2007, Looking forward to 2008

Given that it is nary a few minutes past 22:00 on the east coast of North America, I figure it is time for one of 'those' looking back and looking forward type posts, but with a codedevl slant. This past year has been a rather bizarre one as it marks the first year of my professional career (over 13 years) in which I've been employed by more than two firms/companies. I mean technically I've only been employed by one firm, the time prior and currently I've been self-employed, so does it count?

While this isn't necessarily an issue for many others out there, it was a point of concern for me as I have been traditionally conservative in my career moves and choices. It isn't as if I'd suddenly threw caution to the wind and job hopped. I will say that it was all thanks to the federal government for starting the ball rolling over a year ago when they raided the offices of a previous employer due to nefarious actions of several of their customers (unbeknownst to any of us at the time). The government claims it wasn't a raid but a search and seizure. As far as I know, that is classified as a raid, more so because the agents were wearing bullet proof vests with guns drawn.. all three dozen of them.

I've started to obvious stray from the where I was going. Simply put I found myself working with a skeleton crew at a company for an additional five months while legally being unable to process our normal transactions, hence no hope of future work. The warnings started coming and as such, the few of us which remained knew the end was near so we all started prepping for the day when it would all come crashing to an end, an end to a wonderful half decade as a working family as it were. It took less than a week for me to land a new gig working on a project for Burlington Coat Factory and previously mentioned in a previous entry. I do have to say that I grew more as a software engineer during that first jump into contracting than I had in many of the prior years, including my time as team lead, department lead and CTO.

I brought all of this us because it lead to how I started out the year of 2007. I was finishing up my contract having successfully deployed the new point of sale returned goods system for Burlington's stores nationally. I knew when my last day would be and started to look for interesting jobs, but preferably salaried ones, which I found without trouble, so much to the point that I finished my contract on a Friday and started my next job with Blue Gravity Communications, Inc. the following Monday. As that saga has also come and gone (by my own choice), many things have changed, primarily my outlook on contracting vs. salaried employment, my work environment and my work ethic.

I found that there really isn't a major difference between salaried employment and contract employment, other than the 'false sense' of security in a salaried job. The reality of it is that one can be let-go from a salaried position very easliy, unless you're in Nederland, France, Denmark, Sweden or Norway (and a few others I'm sure I forgot). The overall benefits of being self-employed become clear rather quickly once the newness of contracting fades away. You have more responsibility, and more freedom.

You work harder to prove and build and/or strengthen your reputation, and don't mind it. You have flexible hours (at least in my case and/or other cases where on-site 9-5 is not required, which is a pretty common flexibility. You don't have to deal with as many managers or supervisors. You don't have to stress over working with a certain group of people forever. You are able to work multiple clients simultaneously (as much as you can personally handle), and finally, you truly have more control over yourself and your future than ever afforded in a salaried position.

My environment was always a sticking point throughout my various locales of employment, ranging from a room full of others in a different department, a room full of peers, a room full of subordinates (though I hate the term, being very much an egalitarian), and of course, in a room all by my lonesome. I worked many of my years in a solitary environment, for a full time employer and as such had plenty of human interaction. Yet during those years I yearned for more interaction, a room in which I could openly be around others. I finally got my chance when I became CTO and Development Lead at one company. I was able to secure an open office with no partitions and a relaxed layout.

This proved to be an enjoyable environment, but I found later on that it didn't allow me to produce my best work. Separating myself from the others didn't do much to help either. It was only when I worked as a contractor for my first time that I started to realise what my environmental needs are. I returned into the salaried world and worked side by side with some great people, even entering into the halls of foosball with one of my aforementioned peers. It was only after I re-entered the realm of self-employment contracting for Pinchazo Publishing Group, Inc. (owners of Nylon and Inked magazines most notably), that I setup my home office an came to terms with a new reality.

I work best, in my home office, alone with minimal contact from others with the exception being my request to speak with others over designs or processes changes in order to meet project/structural demands. I do enjoy the company of others but know that I work more diligently, more exacting and am ultimately more focused when in my own space. I did find however that this new environment does have its perks, one of those being flexible time to meet up with peers and past co-workers for quality time.

This leads me to my final point of realisation. My work ethic has changed dramatically for the best. To be honest I found that I was too easily distracted in other environments when a salaried employee. I had far less "in-the-zone" moments when in a workplace, and on someone else's payroll. Again I think this is due to distraction and a certain level of security (a false one at that). I'm not particularly fond of making this public admission, but at least I've recognised it and willingly state it for the record. I know what I need to be the best that I can, producing the best work of which I'm capable. Now that my reputation and future prospects rely mostly upon my current projects and the manner in which they are complete, it makes me stay more focused and on task.

I also must say that due to the lowered stress in my career at this juncture in time, I am able to enjoy my art/trade for more than ever before. When one couples that feeling of relief along with my combined experiences, gained knowledge and wisdom (or lack thereof at times), caring becomes a top priority. I care about my work, and I strive to produce the best that I can. I own the process, the engineering, the schedule and the maintenance and as such demand of myself nothing but my best, and I love every moment of it now. I know what I'm worth now, and I know what my code and expertise are worth and what it takes to ensure that I'm operating at my best.

Finally, this brings me onto my outlook for the upcoming year. Hopefully, much of the same and barring any catastrophes, I see a very promising future ahead with the current outfit for which I'm contracting. The work is exciting, doing things the right way and engineering a whole system is something upon which I thrive. I look forward to learning new technologies, I'm excited about the prospect of new advances and of course, I'm happy that I love coding and truly feel as if I've found my ultimate environment to do what I feel that I do best: Engineer great software.

Happy New Year to all, here's looking forward to a great 2008!

Eric