Where to begin

Post #166,652 by tuberculosis 7/29/04 1:40:06 PM Reply	Where to begin Instead of getting into management where they can effect change, they remain in tech positions because there is no risk. There's a glass ceiling over top tech types. You are actively prevented from moving (on, up, over, anything) because the clueless manager views you as his golden goose. I've been trying to move to management for about 6 years. Occasionally I met with some success. However.... speaking up could get you fired, because IT people are basically assholes, and would rather pinkslip than fight back, or worse, lose. And it has - a couple times now. Most recently I was fired from CheapBastards (ok - tickets) because I disgreed (quietly and privately) with the "architect" and I got canned. The conversation went something like this: VP: We're going to have to part company. Some of your team mates have complained that you're not making your deliverables. ME: I've made every concrete deliverable I've been assigned since I got here. VP: That's not what your team mates say. ME: Which ones. VP: I can't say. ME: OK, name a deliverable I've missed. VP: Oh, I don't have any specifics. ME: Did I not complete the previous project OK? VP: This isn't about that. ME: OK, is there another team that would value my contributions? VP: No. ME: Fine. I'm outta here. As manager I've had subordinates complain to my superiors when I didn't select "standard" technologies (because they figured it wouldn't help their resumes any). A lot of the problem is our so-called pundits/leaders. The fuck wads that write articles for Java Developer, Artima, and so on. They create a culture of faddishness that undermines sound engineering practice. The other problem is the complete lack of knowledge of history of the craft. Nothing is new, just a little different. The churn keeps the software vendors in business. Planned Obsolesence is alive and well in the software world. That was lovely cheese. --Wallace, The Wrong Trousers
Post #166,677 by a6l6e6x 7/29/04 4:11:46 PM Reply	You reminded me of one thing that was not mentioned. Technical expertise is a wasting asset. Take a look [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=166636\|the salary survey link] I posted in Jobs. People with over 10 years experience are not getting raises. A certain percentage of your time as an employee must be allocated to maintaining your professional status. For example reading industry/technical magazines, dead tree or on line versions, attending courses and seminars, etc. I figure about 10% of your time should be spent that way. If you are a contractor, you probably need to do this on your own time. Alex "If I seem unduly clear to you, you must have misunderstood what I said." -- Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve chairman
Post #166,681 by FuManChu 7/29/04 4:41:03 PM Reply	How long have you been in the industry? A certain percentage of your time as an employee must be allocated to maintaining your professional status. For example reading industry/technical magazines, dead tree or on line versions, attending courses and seminars, etc. I figure about 10% of your time should be spent that way. (Staying away from hard numerical suggestions) I'd say that percentage needs to rise as you spend more time in the industry. The natural progression I notice is: 1) Courses/seminars: 3-5 years behind (OK, be fair, sometimes 10 ;). 2) Books: 2-3 years behind. 3) Tech magazines: 1-2 years behind. 4) Real conversations (with Graham's "great hackers"): 6 months behind. 5) Build it yourself. :) But each move closer to "now" means less distillation by those before you, and more personal time required to filter/integrate the info. I've only been doing IT (professionally) for six years; I can't remember the last time I read a tech magazine article whose content wasn't 'obvious' (due to personal constant exposure). I haven't bought tech books in over a year (OK, you got me, I just bought Fowler's _Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture_, but there wasn't anything new in it (which he warned me about in the foreword, but I bought it anyway)). Seminars were never interesting. I'm done rambling, so I'm just going to peter out there without a conclusion. :)
Post #166,705 by a6l6e6x 7/29/04 8:49:49 PM Reply	A decade longer than you've been alive. :) Alex "If I seem unduly clear to you, you must have misunderstood what I said." -- Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve chairman
Post #166,706 by deSitter 7/29/04 9:06:35 PM Reply	"Stow it sonny" :) -drl
Post #166,735 by FuManChu 7/30/04 1:09:47 AM Reply	That's the generic "you" :) And no, I'm not 24. ;) "Despite the seemingly endless necessity for doing so, it's actually not possible to reverse-engineer intended invariants from staring at thousands of lines of code (not in C, and not in Python code either)." Tim Peters on python-dev
Post #166,756 by a6l6e6x 7/30/04 10:17:07 AM Reply	You're 32, if you haven't had a birthday since January. Alex "If I seem unduly clear to you, you must have misunderstood what I said." -- Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve chairman
Post #166,764 by FuManChu 7/30/04 11:03:54 AM Reply	Off-by-one somewhere in your math. ;) 33 "Despite the seemingly endless necessity for doing so, it's actually not possible to reverse-engineer intended invariants from staring at thousands of lines of code (not in C, and not in Python code either)." Tim Peters on python-dev
Post #166,786 by a6l6e6x 7/30/04 1:36:11 PM Reply	Duly noted! :) Alex "If I seem unduly clear to you, you must have misunderstood what I said." -- Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve chairman

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