Wednesday, February 20, 2008 12:14 AM
The Best In-House Programming Gig Ever
I would currently be classified as an in-house programmer. One of those programmers that Joel warned you about. I don’t feel too badly because it is in fact, what 80% of the software jobs are out there. You have to feed the babies somehow. Working in the IT basement is absolutely brutal on your psyche for all the reasons Joel lists.
There are always exceptions. I had the great privilege of working with a brilliant software engineer named Alex Soto. I have to relate this experience vicariously, unfortunately. The best job he ever had was at a tractor company in Chicago.
He worked on an awesome crop visualization thingy, was treated with great regard, sent to some killer training out in CA to learn Eiffel) just because he was interested in it, etc… He was forced to leave the company because it was in Chicago and his family was in Miami (sigh).
Not the Best In-House Programming Gig Ever
That little day-dream doesn’t match reality for most of us. So how do we make peace with our lives (that is until we can go off and form our own killer bug-tracking software company, dating web site, or get the dream-team assignment building Microsoft’s next generation web framework from your home office).
- Work on an open source project. I myself am still trying to find the place in my personal life where this will fit. I am going to do it one day (hey I started blogging).
- Make the Car Go Faster
Making the Car Go Faster
Legend has it that the Toyota Racing Team hired a brand-new CIO some years back. On his arrival, he studied the existing infrastructure and software. He studied the processes and the resources. He determined that none of what was in place passed muster, and did what new execs/architects/programmers do best: restructure, re-organize, and put in new systems, software, and processes.
At the end of the year, the CIO goes before the board with a long laundry list of accomplishments; proud of what he’s accomplished. The CEO’s reaction: “How does any of this make our car go faster?”
Think outside of the craft of software, perhaps just long enough to realize that your day job is really to make the car go faster (or sell more groceries, or build better PDA’s, or whatever). As long as your love for the unique craft that is software remains, your talent will find its way out.