Language of computer hobbyists hits the big time

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Maybe, if you want

Quote:
"I'm surprised how little people really know
about software development (non-developers that
is)."

Are you? Really? Well, I often sympathise with
the Dilberts of this world - sitting in their
cubicles wondering why the boss doesn't
understand that they need to replace the
Enterprise 250s really soon, and why the database
server is going to need a SCSI Raid array before
it melts... but I also recognise that sitting
around feeling thwarted and misunderstood just,
leaves you with a Dilbert-grade lifestyle.

You may really dislike the way companies look
only at the next quarter, but can I offer you
some perspective as someone who's worked for a
company that didn't: Wrox Press? We had a great
time, there: lots of "thinking outside the box",
and everyone, from senior management down to the
indexers and the graphics people, grokked the
technology and had an opinion about it. People
were valued, the company was generous to a fault,
it cared deeply about its customers and really
tried to meet their needs.

Then, one day in March, it went bankrupt and we
all lost out jobs.

My advice to you is, try to be more like Dogbert.
Business is like that, because business is like
that. Get the job done, so that business can move
on. Don't care too much about your code, because
it's all going to need changing in a month's time
for reasons that no one could have forseen and
which might win the company some extra cash. No
one goes to a museum to look at beautiful old
code. Some of the most successful software in
history has been rubbish. Don't expect well
defined targets, and never build for them:
they'll change.

Posted by: Dan_Walker   Posted on: 05/14/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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