I wish I had found the site “Joel on Software” by Joel Spolsky earlier in my life. It contains a lot of precious insights and good points in the area of software development.
Being a partial developer myself, I would have never thought of doing programming as a full day job anymore in this lifetime. However, reading on how Fog Creek values their programmers made me realize that there just might be a light at the end of the tunnel.
I’ve also been reading Joel’s book: Smart and Gets Things Done. Although his style might not be suited for many people especially the typical management, I see it as a very good way to get good technical staff and to retain them in an organization.
Programmers are human too, and for everyone there’s a price. Just keep them happy and they’ll do a good job.
The book is an interesting read for those who can keep an open mind; programmers and management alike. Just don’t bother to get it if you already have a firm way of managing people and not willing to change. Trust me, this is no conventional way of managing technical people. Conventional managers will only scoop some of the points that are advantageous to them, not for everyone.
As for me I don’t think I’ll have any chance to work in the States, perhaps one day I can create such company myself. Who knows…
A full-time programmer will find that his job will have a lot of variations depending on the company with which he works. The type of things that he does, the job scope, the management style and the programming language will be completely different from one company to another. Landing that dream programming job involves mostly luck, due to the lack of “standardization” of the definition of programmer/software developer/software engineer.
A lot of people are interested in programming but only a few are as deeply passionate about it as Joel Spolsky and Steve Yegge. Perhaps it would be best if you continue doing software development on a freelance and part-time basis. This way you could pick and choose the projects that you do and you could do them in your own style; there won’t be any pressure; and you’ll find that you love it more.
Ah… as usual a deep insight from you. You are really a good writer you know that?