Ladies, do you know where your husband is? [N.B. I am leaving this line intact, though it bothers me. This line makes unfair and inappropriate assumptions, and I wish I could remember why I wrote it.] If he’s anything like me (or the rest of my team), he’s at the office. At 4AM. Again.
For the third week in a row I find myself at work at the wee hours of the morning preparing for a project launch. Though today more than ever I find myself asking questions; what takes priority, the needs of a company, or the needs of a relationship? What’s more important, the health of a project, or my own health? Should I be working to make this project a success, or sleeping to stay healthy?
Normally these questions are simple and obvious – yet so often we choose our projects over ourselves, our companies over our loved ones. Why? Is it the drive for success, the challenge of doing the impossible? Maybe it’s the money? Why do developers so often sacrifice so much?
This isn’t a guide to better managing time, or a treatise on setting priorities; no, it’s a developer’s lament. So much is given for a company that does little but ask for more; yet more we always give. We know there are things far more important, but yet so much rides on our efforts, so many people counting on us; how could we dare let them down? Though I appreciate my paycheck, it doesn’t drive me to do more – it’s the people, the challenge, the fact only I can make this happen.
Sometimes though, I wish I could bring myself to accept failure; maybe then the pressure wouldn’t be so great. Maybe then, I could sleep at night.
But this is what we do, we make the miracles; we do the impossible. Every day we face another challenge, every day we find another solution. Now if we could just find a solution for all this time lost from what matters most.
The information security industry, and more significantly, the hacking community are prolific producers of incredibly valuable research; yet much of it is lost to most of those that need to see it. Unlike academic research which is typically published in journals (with varying degrees of openness), most research conducted within the community is presented at a conference – and occasionally with an accompanying blog post. There is no journal, no central source that this knowledge goes to; if you aren’t at the right conference, or follow the right people on Twitter, there’s a great chance you’ll never know it happened.
Inspired by a post from Scott Arciszewski, I’ve decided to go ahead and publish a year in review post. This is something that I’ve generally avoided in the past, as the tone of these posts is more often than not, just cynicism and negativity. After seeing Scott’s post, it made me think about how such a review can be used to send a positive message — something desperately needed.
Year after year, we see predictions, projections, and sales pitches — and the cynical responses that they always generate.
The company I work for is hiring several developers which marks my first significant hiring effort since being promoted to management. This had led to a few interesting observations* I would like to share that may benefit both those looking for a new job and those looking for the next star to add to their team.
Immigration Law: I had no idea how complex this area of law gets; it’s a maddening maze of rules and policies that are more effective at confusing those involved than providing a reasonable solution to a problem.
I’m a developer, and I love what I do, it’s a great industry, and a very exciting field to be in. If you read my blog often, you’ll see I take every opportunity to mention how great this line of work can be, today I offer a somewhat different, less sugar-coated view.
The Pressure There is a constant pressure on developers to be better, to do more, to produce more, sometimes more than is possible.
I really enjoy what I do, and though I work in a chaotic environment, I really do love my job. Being in the Software Development industry has some really nice perks, being a developer in today’s world really is a great thing. Development isn’t easy though, it is quite mentally demanding; clear focus is of paramount importance. Without absolute focus, progress will only be a dream. This fact is a key player as to what makes being in this industry so great.
