Longevity
Last Thursday I hit my two year anniversary here at illustrious Business-X.
Yes, I would indeed like fries with that.
It marks two full years of daily unlearning all that which I had spent the previous five learning, like an obedient dog smacked across the snout with the rolled-up newspaper it had just carried in from the curb. "No, master.... no, master -- Igor will remember to only make the code, master.... master's way is the best, I cannot hope to improve on the master's genius...."
Funny how much my thoughts on job longevity have changed in that time. When I took this gig, I was thinking that what I really needed was to supplement the project-based short-term work on my resume, to stay somewhere for several years and grow in a position, in both technical and "soft" skills.
And now I say "HAH!" Yes, that's right: "HAH!" Not only were my assumptions wrong, the path I took was compeletely heading the wrong way!
I can honestly say, though, that I have grown--inasmuch as I've come to realize that I function much better and serve both employers and customers better as a contractor. Further, my own personal well-being, I've learned, is actually threatened by staying at a dev gig for too long. It breeds laziness, false contentment, myopia, fear of change, gout, scurvy, black hairy tongue, scoliosis, recidivism, mutually assured destruction, technological ghettoism, halitosis, unusual spots, cramping, bloating, water retention, and an extraordinary need to imbibe/self-inebriate. Heavily.
And something else I've determined (to my surprise) is that I do not, as I had previously thought, hate the business software space. Rather, I strongly dislike certain aspects of business in general that are altogether common, but not totally pervasive. To be more specific I find that, in classic geek style, it is the businesspeople I have the most trouble with.
So, my next trick must be to find a place where those aspects/humans are at least kept to a bare minimum. Somewhere I can provide maximum value to an employer without making myself go absolutely bat-shit crazy in the bargain. A situation where technical expertise is required and wanted, not only in name, but in deed.
Clearly that's asking for too much. But baby (or babies) need(s) a new pair of shows (every 6-8 weeks), so I gots to get me a paycheck.
And now, as my odyssey of professional self-discovery continues on this negative-learning road here at B-X, I close this post hoping soon to be able to look back on my slightly-more-than-two-years here, and shudder only briefly.
BTW - I have an interview tomorrow. Wish me luck... ;?)
Life sentence?
I'm coming up on 10 years here. Thanks for the prognosis. I appreciated the cleverly-written post despite the deep depression that ensued.
Maybe You're Lucky
If you've managed to find a place where you can stay for ten years, I'd say consider yourself lucky. In today's economy that's a hard thing to find, mobility being the norm.
Dan
No need for depression
To clarify, I don't think that job longevity in a general sense is a negative. At ALL. My situation is mine alone, peculiar to a number of factors related to the technology I've yoked myself to, and even more specifically to my personality traits/quirks.
Remember that I did have the intention of longevity when I started, and in an ideal world I would still have that intention. But I have realized that I am still, at this point, a "treadmill" developer, handcuffed to the technology and forced to keep up or sacrifice a limb. And if a gig doesn't allow me to keep up indefinitely, and doesn't provide any kind of significant challenge w/in the existing available tech, then from a career perspective it's not worth more of my time.
I get the impression (and correct me if this is wrong) from the direction of your writing that you are/have been in a job that has provided you an "upward path" of some sort.
But here at B-X, no such path exists. There's no chance at an architect-level or even a tech lead position. Best-case, I could maybe get onto a management track -- which is something that is simply not on my radar. I know myself too well to think I'd be anything but a piss-poor manager, and anyway the part of the profession I really enjoy is the technical side. "Ewwww.... people........ yuk!"
The final straw for me is that even my attempts to be above-average, to be a "Really Useful Engine" (thanks Rev. Awdry) of a programmer, to effect positive change for the enterprise -- have all been frustrated by the political and technical environment here. Hence the "Igor" gag in my post. I don't need to be strapped to the heart-attack machine again to realize that they only want prole, do-your-work-and-eat-your-gruel coders here. I've hit a wall that I'm not content to stand around and listlessly bang on, so instead, like the stream, I flow around the rock that I can't break.
Om.
A Cautionary Tale
Thanks for the therapy. As we have tossed words here about before, I realize there is the stage-of-life-element at play as well. However, I do think you make a point that is valid, even in "good" working environments. It is very easy to fall into complacency and that brings with it a lot of baggage. Some folks get frustrated by the need to keep up and the speed in which skills are obsolete in this industry and quit trying. Some folks decide that their level of expertise (dated skillset, etc.) is "good enough" for their current job, so they don't worry about it. As we all know, there is no real promise of tomorrow where employment is concerned. It's risky business to not keep yourself employable.
I know people who are in jobs where there is no hope of mobility, either because someone has to die for a spot to open up, or either because their distinct talent isn't adequately appreciated by the decision-makers. It is wise at that point to move on and not find yourself frustrated and bitter.
I appreciate being able to lurk here at d.* and read perspectives of developers who have very different lives and experiences than my own. There are a lot of people who go home and watch 24, or CSI, or hah...Project Runway...and couldn't a bit more tell you who Steve McConnell or Gerald Weinberg or Joel Spolsky is than anything. AJAX what? School is over as far as they are concerned, and if you don't send me to an all-expenses-paid, week-long spoon-feeding-fest, forget it. Of course let me quickly add before anyone on the other continent zings me...companies *should* offer continuing education opportunities for their employees. Yet, that doesn't relieve the individual of taking initiative to see to his own personal technology grooming...like applying antiperspirant in the morning.
Continuing Education
One of the most frustating aspects of my new career as a programmer is that of continuing education.
When I was a welder and new technologies came down the pipe, we had pilot projects, classroom training, field training, and expert supervision as we took on production tasks. Testing was conducted at all levels, including on-going production quality control testing. Everything was conducted during normal work hours, at normal rates of pay, with arrangements made to handle backlogs of work with minimal overtime--usually none--and the concept of unpaid overtime simply didn't exist.
When I was a trucker and new regulations (like dangerous goods handling and transport) were put into place, there was formal training associated with that. As with the welding job, everything was just another day at work.
Now that I'm a programmer (well, at least that's my formal title!), I'm supposed to be spending a significant fraction of my free time and disposable income on the Red Queen's race. Learn something new on company time? Not likely! Even if that was put into place, there would be overtime (unpaid!) to take care of the displaced work.
I used to read nearly 200 books a year on a wide variety of subjects including popular and college-level non-fiction and various genres of fiction. Now I read less than half of that and most of it has something to do with skills development.
I've decided to take my chances with regard to skill development. There are boats to build, fish to catch, and a library practically across the street. As my dad always reminded me: "I was looking for a job when I found this one."
Ron Porter: Read FORCES OF PRODUCTION
Ron, see my blog post with the above title.
A Management Must-Read
Ron, I think every IT/Software development manager in the country should read the 2nd paragraph of your post. Want your team to learn AJAX? Send them to class and pay them to develop a pilot AJAX project. People complain about the lack of standards in software engineering and compare it with frustration to other fields, and then wonder why this is.
There's Continuing, and there's Consuming
Ron,
I have to agree with you on many points. After a long, arduous day, I still love to read, but not always the in the same genre I have been dealing with all day. You have your mental health to consider, after all. We can't keep up with everything anyway. Yet, I think it is worthwhile to choose a specialty (whole series of blogs have been written about that here) and at least try to stay current with that.
If we consider ours a profession (and a lot has been written about that topic) we just need to stay connected. When I was at a company that went through a merger, everyone had to reapply for their own jobs. Many folks were quite distressed to learn they were no longer qualified.
At another company, a developer made it known that he had no interest in learning "the new stuff" (even though he would have been sent to classes) and was content to code his remaining days on the mainframe. When we told him there wasn't enough mainframe work there to keep him employed until he retired, he held the same position...and was surprised when he was transferred to a non-programming job.
There's no doubt it's tough, and I don't personally stay as current as I feel I need to. I think it would be different if I was always convinced that the changes were progressive, but sometimes it seems like languages/tools/operating systems are designed for obsolescence.
One man's trash
I'm of two minds on this issue. I definitely don't relish spending every minute of reading time I have on development-related material. But at the same time, I'm glad to be in a profession where there are literally no limits to the type and quantity of professional information you can absorb.
The situation Donna describes is somewhere I certainly don't want to be -- clinging to a knowledge base the value of which is diminishing rapidly. So I'm willing to put in some of my own time -- I see it as part of the deal. But I also agree with Rob that if companies want FTE's to learn new technologies for company use, then it is completely incumbent on the company to train them. For consultants/contractors, it's a different story -- the nature of the beast is being on your own.
What Ails You
And don't forget moose bumps and chimpanzee acne!
(Sorry all--an in joke for the Dr. Octagon fans.)
Dan