Back To Work Reflections

Well, I'm starting my new job on February 2nd and it feels pretty good to be going back to work. Thanks goes out to everyone for their prayers and thoughts which are greatly appreciated. I am humbled by everyone's concern for my wife and I and we won't soon forget everyone's kindness. As a form of gratitude I want to examine what I learned during this turbulent time in my life. To that end I ask myself what did I learn - ala South Park.

So, what did I learn from all this? First, before leaving a good company do an in-depth self examination of your situation and ask, "is it really horrible or is it just challenging?" If it is horrible can it be corrected? Second, don't run to the first opportunity presented, do diligent research of the organization/business that you are thinking of joining and make sure you can be successful, happy and that the company shares your beliefs both socially and culturally. Thirdly, take good advice from good people who honestly care about you and discard negative and short sighted advice.

Enough generalities, what did I learn that is specific to my situation? Flat organizations are idiotic in concept and in practice; without minimal bureaucracy how do you rationally organize projects, resources and people. A truly flat development organization has no way of preventing nomadic development and cowboy coding. Great technical professionals are very smart, great at solving problems and taking advantage of opportunities but technical professionals are, let's face it, not the best organizers. How many times [as a developer/thought worker] have you started down a path of solving a particular problem and end up building a new framework or library. I know if I don't actively stay focused on my target I tend to start solving problems that nobody has or is likely to have; or worse, creating something that my employer neither needs nor wants. A flat organization also tends toward context thrashing. If people aren't assigned particular tasks/projects then the chances of bouncing from one task/project to another is inevitable. Flat organizations also lack any real leadership because there are no assigned leaders and if a business/organization isn't lucky or innovative enough to have automatic leaders then you are stuck with a developer herd going in all directions - not exactly a rosy work environment.

I also learned that when you enter an environment where you are continually told that you are working with the smartest people, run, run like the wind. When people have become so arrogant and self absorbed that they begin to truly believe they are the smartest people in the room you are dealing with a room of typewriting monkeys. You very well may or may not be working with some very intelligent and talented people but when those same people begin to toot their own horn then they have become blind to their own ignorance. Take a queue from Socrates, "I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing." No one, not even Einstein, was the smartest man in every room on every subject. What happened when Einstein joined a group of botanists? He became an above average Joe. If you are humble enough to know that you are not the smartest then you will always be pushing yourself. If you are the smartest around then you don't need to push yourself you can just rest on your laurels - not a good trait in IT.

I also learned to be more diligent about a budget. When I first got laid off my wife and I took a look at our finances and quickly realized that we had very little in reserve. The worst part was not that we were going to have to tighten our belt but that if we would have just handled our finances while times were good we wouldn't have been in such dire straits. My income alone was enough to pay-off most of our debts if we would have just been more disciplined. This was the hardest thing because it is the one thing we had the most control over and we squandered a great opportunity. This was a hard learned lesson that I am going to correct quick, fast and in a hurry at my new job.

If you have recently lost your job trust me I know how hard it is, especially psychologically. All I can say is turn to your family and friends they are going to be your anchor in the coming storms. Try not to panic, I know, I know easier said than done but this too shall pass. Try and learn from your current situation, you are living through a difficult time that can show you who and what really matters in your life. For me I rediscovered the strength of my wife, the love of my family and the strong bonds of friendship. I believe that everything happens for a purpose and if you stay alert you will discover the purpose of your hardships.