From: Nicholas Van Weerdenburg <nick@...>
Date: 2004-06-10T13:25:13+09:00
Subject: Re: [OT] Re: Unit tests ... not just for the young

I've had similar experiences...it's frustrating to program on projects 
that lack good requirements, so I took up business analysis and 
requirements theory. Good requirements don't fly without good project 
management, so I took that up. Project management doesn't fly without 
good architecture, so I took that up. Getting all that working doesn't 
fly without teams and effective organizational capability, so I took 
that up- CMM and all that.  Then I realized I was starting to suck as a 
programmer, so I took that up again. Then I realized Java sucks, so I'm 
now learning ruby, python, lisp, smalltalk and scheme. Now I am just 
confused, and wonder how civilization ever happened :).

In general, I think of myself as more of an engineer focused on the end 
product, and programming is the medium that creates it. I really want 
the end product to succeed, and I'll do almost anything necessary to 
accomplish that.

Nick

Jean-Hugues ROBERT wrote:

> ... snipped...
>
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>At my company, we have two career tracks (called ladders):
>>Technical and Managerial.
>>
>>You can be either an individual contributor, or a manager. :)
>>Some tech people are team leads or may have direct reports,
>>but they are not considered managers -- I'm not sure
>>where the line is drawn.
>>
>>As for myself, I can't bring myself to aspire to a manager
>>position yet. Maybe when I am older (like 80). There
>>are some multi talented people out there, but I wonder if
>>a good programmer can really aspire to a managerial postion.
>>
>>To be a good programmer, you really have to love what you do.
>>How could someone aspire to move away from something they
>>really love?
>>
>>-- 
>>Jim Freeze
>>No matter what other nations may say about the United States,
>>immigration is still the sincerest form of flattery. 
>>    
>>
>
>I started a company in 1987. I believe that by 1993 we must
>have been 15 people. I was a programmer. A version 2 of our
>major product was starting. A year after I realized that there
>was an issue. Informal communication was not working anymore.
>Bug fixing was constantly delayed. Deadlines were missed.
>I then realize that there was a need for somebody to organize
>thing so that the product would survive. That is when I
>became a manager I guess. A few years latter I was hired as
>VP Engineerer of some startup. After the Internet bubble
>explosion I worked fixing my old house. Now I am back to
>programming. I have always loved that. But at some point I
>really felt like there was a need for a manager, I loved
>the result of programming (The Product) more than my
>contributions to it and I kind of put aside my programming
>pleasure to help the product succeed. That worked, very
>well, I don't regret it at all.
>
>Not mentioning the fact that as VP Engineerer, I was making
>more money that will ever be possible for a programmer in
>my country, France. I needed that money to fix my old house.
>
>This story may give you some ideas about why somebody would
>move away from something she/he really like.
>
>Yours,
>
>JeanHuguesRobert
>
>
>
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