In Defense of the Lone Code Archetype - Part 2 (The followup)

Roughly half a decade ago I expounded upon the virtues of the lone coder archetype, which was in response to a flurry of "______ is the one-true way^tm" where said blank could have been XP, Agile, Hierarchically Big-Team Structured Environment, etc.

I feel it necessary to further discuss the situation by pointing out the environments where the aforementioned 'mindsets' (as it were) just do not cut it. I'm not saying that these various means and methodologies don't have their place or purpose. I'm saying that there is no magic solution that fits every environment.

First and foremost let me point out that while I currently find myself working for the corporate behemoth that is Comcast, I have primarily functioned in extremely lean staffed companies/start-ups and I do enjoy the environments regardless of all of the negatives resultant from their miniscule size(s). Many of the methodologies against which I argue as not being the end-all-be-all or one-true-way just simply wouldn't be a great fit for these smaller, faster environments. I'm talking about companies in which there is no QA department. There are no "project managers" outside of those coding individuals doing the coding. There are no dedicated "scrum masters" to keep focus and direction.  Turn around time for a project can be anywhere from 18 months for a massive project to as little as 30 minutes for a last minute 'big money deal' directly arranged by the owner of the company.

I can't say that I love all of those really hair-raising tight-deadlined projects, but I can say that I do find myself thriving in such environments while I've watched others come and go, not being able to make the cut in such an unstructured (comparative to textbook scenarios and larger companies) work space.

I don't want to send the wrong idea here though. Proper design, implementation and testing methods need to be utilised, though in many cases the specific type will vary dependant upon the various variables (time until deadline, technical requirements (formal or otherwise), availability of those requesting said application(s) and/or change(s). All I am stating is that talk of scrum methodologies, stand up meetings (even if only for 5-10 minutes tops daily), etc. just don't cut it in these environments. Entire projects sometimes need to be not only designed, but put into production in less than an hour's time while all of the normal daily actions take place.

Before anyone starts to think that "these tiny companies aren't worth it", I will clearly state that with rare exception, all of the aforementioned companies (if only by reference and not by name) have been and/or are rather profitable, more than worth the effort. I will state that I have both seen individuals who whilst highly capable in their own right fail miserably as well as those who happen to be incapable of coping with the frustrations of not doing daily work in a manner conducive to that which they learned in college.

There is ultimately a place for everyone, but for the truly cutting edge companies such luxuries as what would seemingly be order, structure and time frames simply don't exist. It is also a world in which competency pays/paid off for those willing to cope with things during those really hectic moments.

Now before anyone starts the tirade of "these environments aren't sustainable" responses, I will state that as the companies each find their own groove, the hopes are that there'd be a bit more consistency, planning and structure to what can otherwise seem a bit of guided chaos, though more oft than not, this isn't the case.

Lone coders fit these environments but are of a specific mould.  Those constantly needing direction or looking for hand holding need not apply as these are the kinds of environments where learning the process as well as what are deal makers and deal breakers must be done swiftly because the calls made in all areas from architecture to one-off applications need to be done unapologetically and with the future in mind by said lone-coders.  Luxuries such as access to others capable of having half of the answers remains just that, a luxury.  It takes individuals of a certain mindset which brings to mind the commercials for the US Marines, which can be equally applied (for different reasons).

"The few, the proud (albeit questionably mentally unstable though surprisingly effective), the lone coders."

New environments (mentally) as it were... (a.k.a. something old, something new)

Since my last update made a little over a month and a half ago, much has changed.  I've accepted a position as Lead Software Engineer for Yorn, LLC located in Conshohocken, PA.  I haven't abandoned my prior position with the publishing house in NYC, merely time-shifted those hours elsewhere.  Taking this new venture (on top of my previous work, plus the other tech-startup of which I'm a co-founder, Ecquire has proven to be a necessity for my sanity.

Working primarily for the past many years as the sole Software Engineer for a half dozen magazines in a Django/Python/Javascript/CSS/HTML/FreeBSD Unix environment whilst also wearing the SysAdmin hat has been...  draining.  This wasn't due to having nothing to do, this was more to do with having very little room for innovation as the end product wasn't the new SaaS website or Outlook plugin, it was simply repetition with the only real variances being that as dictated by wet-behind the ears designers and graphic artists whose concerns about a given site was more about look than UX.  Don't get me wrong, some of the designs have been gorgeous, but not without the pendantic whining common with individuals who only knowing Adobe Photoshop aren't happy when you explain to them that there is a different methodology at work in producing like-layouts im a web framework.

Either way, back on topic.  I feel for the first time in quite a while that not only am I solving real problems that pertain to a large scale of individuals and companies (as opposed to readership by fashion and/or tattooing enthusiasts) but I am finally in a position in which I have a cohort in crime, a partner, a colleague. Best of all, he's brilliant.  A proper individual for the field, something when I've been trying to find for ages.  A PhD in computer science and a quarter century in the field along with all of the traditionally odd hobbies and sense of humour found more commonly in those with very intellectual professions.  Even though we've only met face to face on three occasions, we've shared many phone calls and Skype sessions whilst working out our designs and product development and it has simply been a breath of fresh air for me.  I have someone off of whom I can bounce complex ideas knowing full well that I'm understood, as well as presenting me the opportunity to expand my own learning horizons.

Excitement stirs ones involvement in a given project and considering that this is what has (and is) happening to me, it is paying off in not only a clearer mind and what I believe are more robust ideas emminating from my thoughts but it has reduced my stress allowing me to be more productive all around whether in the publishing work, my own startup and more importantly in my family life.  It all comes back to ensuring that whatever one does, they need to sometimes step of a comfort zone in pursuit of that which provides incentive and drive in ones given interests and/or profession(s).  I was too conservative earlier on in my professional career and I believe I would've benefited greatly had I stepped out of my cocoon years earlier rather than (as most introverted engineering types do) not think highly enough of myself to be worth more than an abysmal income and working environments to which I was subjected for over seven years.

Times have changed and the future is looking brighter and brighter.  Ecquire & Yorn have paved the way to a better future.  I stepped past my initial nervous/worried leanings and jumped into the world of proper tech startups finding that the grass truly has shown to indeed be greener on the other side.  Now, onto another exciting and challenging day of practising my craft.

Simulae3 Update: Room Object? What ever do you mean?

This is just a simple, quick update to let it be known that the issue pertaining to how to accurately represent a room in Simulae3 has been resolved.  I spent about an hour with a blank book of graph paper and pen poised in my hand and thought about the problem till the following realisation hit me:

Rooms are an abstract, a void.  They only exist as a concept without substance to us.  They are the empty space created by barriers, some of those barriers contain portal objects (e.g. windows, doors, openings).  It is using this logic that the next piece of Simulae3 can be designed.  

SimulaeKaart.py

A simple cartography-based program (kaart) being the word for map in Nederlands (Dutch).  Physical space will be represented in 10 centimeter square grids (though variable map design may be possible).  The whole point of this is that in the real world, we use GPS and surveying to accurately place physical locations, Simulae3 will be no different. 

The other quick note is that the concept of rooms are also knocked out in that a room knows not of its purpose, it is only by human reasoning and deduction that a particular enclosure/void/"room"'s purpose can be ascertained.  If you take an empty house with two rooms near the room with the stove and dishwasher, how does one know which is the dining room (if either).  One doesn't, one chooses to assign that role by the placement of the appropriate objects (appropriate to a dining room that is) within said void. 

Simply put, this conundrum has been resolved and the next phase of design and coding can continue.

Future Aspirations.

I recently had dinner with a previous pseudo-co-worker from my previous contract to catch up on things since parting ways.  I say "pseudo-co-worker" because ultimately when one is a contractor, he/she has no co-workers with only the exception of other contractors on the same project for which they were contracted.  He works for a software production firm primarily in Java, and that little tidbit of information started me thinking.  What I have wanted for all of these years in the profession was to work for a software house.  

I know that some of the open source crowd are going to say "why not contribute to new and/or existing open source project?" to which I simply point out that is isn't the same.  I have written and distributed code under both the artistic license as well as the BSD license, but ultimately it isn't solely about the code, it is about the environment.  Right now, I work in an environment in which there is really one person with whom I can speak and joke regarding code and geekdom in general, and I enjoy that.  I do know however, that much like my previous work associate, I want the whole environment, surrounded by other coders of varying capabilities and disciplines.  

I'm sure some might imply that I have a sort of fantasy view of these environments, but I beg to differ based upon the opinions of others that I know personally.  There is a certain camaraderie in highly skilled engineering/creative homogeneous work place environments which just isn't found elsewhere.  If anyone reading this has ever had the opportunity to read any blogs from the original coding group at Netscape or Apple, you'll know full well as to what I'm referring.

I know full well that there are high stress time periods at those companies and that more so those environments are more conducive to non-family-life encumbered employees, but there are definitely exceptions as such.  

Either way, back to my friend.  I think he pointed out something to me that I feel would me help with my, dare I say, professional environmental depression, that being -- attending programming/tech conferences.  Back in 2000, I attended Linux World in New York at the Jacob Javits Center, and then again in 2001.  It was a blast, by and far.  I do have to say that 2000 was a much better event than 2001 not only because of the IBM sponsored rave, BattleBots, and free (as-in "beer") bar, but because of the people there.  It seemed to go quite a bit more corporate in one single year.  I met many interesting people during those conventions, and even received several job offerings as well, though I didn't take any, as much as I should've since a few were at software houses.   Either way, I've lost my focus of this post, but I can say that I've made it a personal resolution to start heading to more developer related cons, now the questions are, which ones?  PyCon?  JavaOne?  LUG Radio Live (US or UK)?   I guess time will tell.  

Some Coders that Stand Out in My Mind

   No, no, no..  Unlike in the movie “Antitrust", I never was fortunate(?) enough to work in an environment like “The Egg”.  I’ve never worked for a huge computer company or internet startup during their heyday such as Google, Netscape (back in the day) or Apple though after reading of some of the stories of those of have, I feel like it must’ve been a blast (albeit tiring).  I can however say that I’ve met a multitude of interesting people over the years and would like to mention just a few of them here, with the hope of eventually getting in contact with one or more of them in the future.

    I will try to keep everyone in a quasi-chronological order for the sake of clarity when discussing the environment in which I interacted with said individuals.

    Joseph ‘Joey’ Springer III:    Joey was my neighbour as a child who happened to live right around the corner.  We both had obsessions with computers from the earliest days of our youth.  His father was Joseph Springer, Jr., an engineer at RCA and ultimate provider of an early teletype machine along with a seemingly endless supply of punch cards with which we would goof around for countless hours.  While we never coded together, he was a close friend whose intelligence shone through at all times, not to mention he was a keen player of ‘Dark Castle’ on his sister Kathy’s Macintosh which she was required to have since she was attending Drexel University at the time.  I haven’t see Joey since the late 1980’s but know that he’s out there somewhere.  Last I heard he was achieving his degree in Mathematics somewhere in New Jersey, USA.

    Walter ‘Walt’ Thesing & Michael ‘Mike’ Simons (a.k.a. Jesus):  Back in the 10th grade at the high school I attended after my stint at an Engineering and Science magnet school in Philadelphia, I took a class in Pascal.  I’d been programming for many years at this point, but never took any formal classes on the topic.   I’d known BASIC for quite some time but never had any experience in in other languages at any kind of serious level.   Well, it was in this class that I met Walt.  He was quite adept at coding the older Apple ][‘s our school utilised and spent much of his free time coding and playing his version of Tetris.  We ended up befriending one another in class along with my coding partner (at the time) Michael ‘Mike’ Simons (a.k.a. Jesus) and through the process learned that we shared a certain fondness for coding whilst listening to the B52’s.  It was through coding whilst listening to the aforementioned musical ensemble that the idea for this post as well as the memory of Walt popped into my head.  I don’t know if Walt went into computers professional, or another science/mathematics field, but it woud be a sad loss for those fields if this were how it played out.  Mike Simons went on to work with the Slackware Linux distribution and I last saw him at Linux World Expo, New York in 2001.  I’d like to hear from either of them if they’re out there.

    Daniel ‘Dan’ Ervine:  During my seven year stint at Alliance Remanufacturing in Philadelphia, PA, USA at the turn of the past millennium I worked with a fledgling Network Engineer fresh out of a Marist College (a.k.a. Mattress College) named Dan.   

    When Dan and I first started working together he was still very much a Microsoft tool, but after exposing him to the real world of Unix and Unix knock offs like the various Linux distributions out there, I deemed him cured of his previous MS affliction.  We only got the opportunity to work with one another for a couple of years due to a restructuring which saw him lose his position right around the same time as his birthday and wedding.  

    We’d worked together on several projects (primarily me assisting in his Networking world) since it was something I wanted to at least learn and partake in once since I never work in the administrative capacity these days.  We grew to become friends and had the joy of travelling several times on business together (including two Linux World Expos in New York) and CAMM in Connecticut. 

    He’d changed dramatically over the years, all for the better and while it has only been a few years since I’ve been able to see and/or talk with him, I’d like to as I’m curious as to what he and his wife are up to, and where he is in his career, though I’m sure it’s a good place.

    So as I said earlier, there are many individuals with whom I’ve had interactions in the computing field which I’d like to speak to again given the opportunity.  I have many others whom I’d like to make mention but being that it is 00:45 in the morning as I type this  whilst watching “Ghost in the Shell : Standalone Complex” on the tele, I need to end it here.  I will continue this list in a later thread when time avails itself.

My Adventures in Software Engineering Consulting

  Starting in August of 2006 I ventured into the world of independent Software Engineering contracting.  Having just completed my previous salaried tenure at a financial firm, and a small side stint for a Fashion magazine as a favour to the owner(s)., I came upon a new offering.  I was hesitant at first because it was a 1099 contract job, a realm I’d never ventured into before in my professional career, and as such the time had apparently come. 

    The position was simple, the company in question was a contractor to a large retail clothier whose name rhymes with ‘Hurlington Boat Factory’ and is located in a town in New Jersey possessing a similar sounding name.  The CEO of the contracting firm requested specifically someone with considerable experience in Python who could build a real-time return transactions processing system which would utilise both XML and Oracle 10g.  While I have a strong dislike (along with many other software engineers) for XML, the reality of getting paid decent money for coding 100% in Python was all that I needed to hear.

    I have to say that I was excited not only because of the prospect of a Python pure coding environment but that I would be working initially and then periodically out of a satellite office in Cherry Hill.  This was exciting because for the first time in my decade plus career, I was finally in a scenario where I was writing code for a company whose primary purpose was producing JAVA software applications for sale.  The office in Cherry Hill consisted primarily of the CEO, a lead developer and a secondary developer.  There were several other individuals who would at times utilise the office including the owners, project managers and other associates of various roles, but ultimately it was an office with other competent coders one of those being quite the master of Cold Fusion technologies.  

    After my first few weeks on site in the Cherry Hill office it was time to start working on-site at Hurlington’s headquarters along with the only other consultant coding in Python.  This was the beginning of a very enjoyable period in the contract due to the excitement of the project and the joy and experience of worthing with another Pythonista.   

    The details of the project are much like any other project you might encounter when modelling a new project off of a customer version produced for a specific client.  It got ugly for a while due to the multiple aspects of the project including client systems which needed to be integrated for proper functioning along with an existing array of registers distributed nationwide and a database number records approach a half a billion entries.  The normal in fighting and finger pointing existed but it was all worked out in the end with a finished product delivered and a contract satisfied 100 percent. 

    The only issues encountered which left a bad taste in my mouth were those pertaining to a clueless project manager who regardless of his claim of years of experience was apparently lacking considerably outside of his realm of Oracle, which caused unnecessary attitude due to his ignorance of coding and APIs.  There were other issues dealing primarily with suits, but I doubt that this specific issues varies much anywhere.  Suits and Engineers rarely if ever mix, let alone get along except on a faux-cordial level.   The ultimate end of the contract was due to the project portion I was responsible for coming to fruition, even though I was already working on leaving regardless.   It wouldn’t have mattered much anyway given that the main contracting company is located up north in the centre of New England and are in the process of relocating everyone to that locale, an act which I am unwilling to do.

    I do like certain aspects of software consulting, but given that there is a considerable amount of extra taxes which must be held aside, some unholy hours which must be adhered to for the purposes of meeting quite strict time lines, and the reality of being a second class citizen in the work environment (or 3rd class in my case as a sub-contractor).  It all comes to an end in two days and I go back to a normal, preferred work environment in five days when I start up in a salaried position again working for a web host writing a multitude of applications and revisions of existing software, in a nice relaxed geek environment, also in New Jersey, but this time around, I’m excited to not be a consultant.   At least for the time being.