Posts Tagged “career”

Feb 20 2010

Starting with VSoft

Posted by Ben Hughes in Programming, tags:

I concluded my recent navel gazing by deciding to find the kind of career that really interested me. After a little thought it was obvious that, without an inordinate amount of effort, it wouldn’t be possible to find what I was after at the ABS. So for the first time since graduating from Uni, I started seriously looking for a job.

I was looking for positions that matched my experience but eventually it clicked that I needed to look for the job I wanted, not necessarily the one that I was best suited to on paper. I forced myself to take the time to refine my rough career goals and from there my options really opened up. The number of job listings to trawl through was dramatically cut and I had a clear criteria to assess the ones that were left. I sent my resume into a few places, had a couple of interviews and put myself on some contracting lists in case I couldn’t find a permanent position.

The first interview I had was with VSoft, the small Canberra software company that makes FinalBuilder. It was very laid back and informal and I immediately had a good feeling. The work matched what I was looking for and the environment couldn’t be more different from the ABS: a small, non-hierarchical company with a specific focus. And they score pretty well on the Joel Test too.

I had a few other interviews lined up, but when Vincent offered me the VSoft job it didn’t take me long to accept. So starting on 1 March I’ll be a senior .NET developer at VSoft, getting up to my neck in ASP.NET MVC. And I can’t wait :)

Comments No Comments »

Dec 26 2009

Refactoring Life

Posted by Ben Hughes in Personal, tags:
In software development, refactoring is the process of improving how code is structured, usually because the original implementation was sub-optimal or the circumstances in which the code is being used have changed. The aim is elegance: that subjective and elusive blend of functionality and simplicity.
My family recently decided to set a ‘theme’ for 2010 - a guiding concept for the decisions we make through the year. We chose “simplicity”, but it has since occurred to us that what we’re really after is elegance. I want to move through life with as little resistance as possible, while still achieving and growing and living. That means cutting things back to their simplest yet most functional, removing the accumulated cruft, reforming into the optimal shape.
One of the interesting things about elegance is that it is underpinned by a clear purpose. While you can superficially simplify, you cannot hone down to the core functionality without knowing the exact purpose. In order to work towards creating an elegant life I need to clearly define what I want to achieve, which obviously has been rattling around in my head a little lately.
Essentially, I want to refactor my life.
Although I know how to refactor code, applying those same principles to my life is sure going to be interesting. But I like it as a metaphor because refactoring is most effective when it’s incremental and constant. Small achievable improvements done regularly, rather than wholesale re-writes, sounds like a pretty good way to approach life.

Posted via email from Ben’s Stream

Comments No Comments »

Dec 10 2009

A fork in the road

Posted by Ben Hughes in Programming, tags: ,

I foreshadowed this post almost a year ago when I wondered aloud about what I really liked doing. The thoughts that were starting to form then have melded with a year of experience, and I find myself at a rather definite decision point in my career.

According to my pay grade I’ve been a middle manager for a few years now, but in reality I’ve been almost purely technical with the occasional bit of staff & project management thrown in. I moved into my current team 6 months ago because I’m passionate about the work - it’s an area I’ve previously put a lot of energy into and I feel a strong connection with the business. The team is large enough to have a dedicated project manager and a senior tech lead, and the plan of course was that I would be the tech lead. But for various reasons I haven’t written any code (at work) for the last 6 months, which is easily the longest period since I finished uni 8 years ago. If I wasn’t writing code because I was too busy with deep technical designs maybe this wouldn’t be an issue, but in reality I’ve been spending most of my time on project management. And I have to admit, I’ve been enjoying it. I’ve learnt a lot of new skills and have started thinking at a different level, and having the ability to concentrate on what my team needs without worrying about my own technical delivery has been somewhat freeing.

At this point I could go either way: pick up the management thread and see where it takes me; or push back into the technical and try and etch out a career for myself there. I’m only just starting to come to terms with the consequences of each of those options. Read the rest of this entry »

Comments 1 Comment »

Dec 12 2008

What do you really like doing?

Posted by Ben Hughes in Personal, tags:

It’s been a pretty average week at work, so I was happy to look at job ad when someone sent one my way. It sounded awesome: big picture, big results stuff. I was thinking about applying until I realised that it would be a non-technical role, which completely put me off. 

A few months ago I moved from a part management part technical role to almost purely technical, and I’ve been seriously enjoying it. But despite that, it doesn’t feel like what I want to be doing for the next 30 years. 

 

What do I want to be doing for the next 30 years?

 

I enjoy technical work so long as it’s tied to a higher purpose. Collaborative problem solving and technical leadership stuff are also up there, and I’m fairly comfortable with looking after staff. But start talking about budgets, Gannt charts,  project plans and “resources” and I’m looking for the door. Which leads to a bit of a confession: I’m not a finisher.

I mean, sure, I get things done, but by the time I’m 80% there I’ve lost interest. All the “personality tests” back this up - using HDBI terminology I’m imaginative and analytical, with a decent amount of interpersonal, and almost no sequential aptitude. That is, big on ideas and problem solving, decent with people, and not so good on the details. Knowing those traits is one thing, but mapping them to a career path is something else, particularly in my current organisation.

So why, when a job comes along that seems to be a great match for me, do I brush it aside just because there’s no technical component? What’s so important to me about being a developer anyway? Is it just the comfort of working from a safe knowledge base, or is it something deeper?

For many reasons outside of this, now is not a good time for me to be looking at changing jobs so I won’t be applying. But if I want to make any sort of progress from here on I think I need to understand what’s holding me back.

 

Maybe I need a life coach. Hell, maybe I just need a holiday.

Comments 2 Comments »