Are we not men - we are Devo?
Does this look like you? Are you surrounded by like minded individuals, sharing a community experience at work with your fellow geeks? Perhaps you have even gone further than that and made a lasting friend or two out of your fellow developers. That certainly describes the kind of environment that I flourish in and in my more senior years, have worked hard to foster. It’s my experience that software developed in this environment is more cohesive and easier to maintain over the long haul. With he right personality types, social activity at work for geeks often means talking shop and this leads to a win – win situation for everyone. More ideas begat better ideas, common work patterns begin to evolve; other than that it’s just plain more enjoyable.
However I have struck the odd workplace that is the antithesis of what I have just described. Personality bereft work silos, with dead silence abounding throughout the organisation, lack of willingness to work together, fostering a cycle of suspicion and loss of preparedness to work as a team. I have seen enough of this type of work place to know that I can never work in one again.
Of course it’s possible that I have just described your workplace and perhaps even worse than that, it’s the way it is because you designed it to be that way? What kind of work environment do you have? Do the developers at your office communicate with one another vibrantly, rich in tone and timbre, taking coffee breaks together, occasionally going out for lunch and generally taking any office bound social opportunity to debate and discuss geeky things? Do you have a mate at work?
I would really be interested to hear the arguments (if there are any) that make a case for this almost Brechtian bleakness and minimalism in surroundings.
Isolated but not entirely forgotten - .NET Conferences Down Under.
One thing that we sorely lack in Australia is quality conferences for software developers. Yes it’s true we have TechEd but I find that many great presenters do not venture down under for this event. We have nothing that comes vaguely close to something like the Norwegian Developer Conference (NDC) which has been a wonderful event in the most recent past (just check out the videos). And whilst we can sit in the comfort of our own home and watch a plethora of video downloads from such events, the ambience and opportunity to meet likeminded individuals in the flesh is impoverished. One does not quite so much feel a mensch (the Yiddish meaning), sipping ones coffee on ones couch as one would in the company of an audience in some of software’s great theatres.
Conferences that I (think I) would most like to attend include:
Despite our geographical isolation due largely to the tyranny of distance and the ensuing expense, all is not lost. We do from time to time get some top shelf training events down under. Of course we have our User Group communities but is that adequate gap filler for the (apparent) vibrancy of the European and North American conference circuits; I’m Imagineering a little here because I have not yet experienced it.
What about an Australian Developers Conference – one to rival the quality say of the NDC? Would you come? Australia is a big place and it seems clear that it would not be practical for it to be held in every city, so I guess it would best be hosted in Melbourne or Sydney. How much would an Australian developer be willing to part with to attend, would your company put up the finance to send you?
Inspirational people in Software
Recently K. Scott Allen posted on the inspirational effect of books on software developers and so I mentality sifted through my memory in an attempt to find one that I could say really had that effect on me. My first problem was finding a definition for ‘Inspiration’. I am going to take some artistic license here and avoid any accepted dictionary definitions and lean on my own personal experiences to assign a meaning and value to ‘Inspiration’.
In the past when I have been inspired it has always had a cause and effect relationship, I get inspired to *act* for a given cause or outcome. Sometimes this is a private affair and other times it’s a shared experience, nonetheless it’s always rooted in action, the effects of which are distinguished by a *reaction* (hopefully positive) from myself and other people with whom I interact.
There have been a few people along the way during my career in software development that have inspired me, some whom I have had the pleasure to meet and others whose teachings and ideas I have followed. In each case I have indeed been inspired to learn and grow. I have also had the privilege of working in groups where the individuals within were able to inspire each other through sharing a common goal. The latter of these types of experience I have found anecdotally to be increasing in frequency with respect to software development. It goes without saying that when I had a career in music this was far more commonplace.
K. Scott remarked in his post that:
“An inspirational book, in my mind, transcends any specific technology and makes you think differently about how you approach your job.”
a statement that for me rings true for any form of inspiration, whether it comes from books or other sources. I remember in my days as a music recording engineer / producer, I worked with artists and drew on the teachings Constantin Stanislavski (the father of method acting) to provide inspiration for character portrayal in live performance.
So what about you? Who inspires you? BTW, that’s a rhetorical question unless you see fit to share your answer.
