Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

I am a firm believer of solving a problem and sharing it with your peers.  All code construction can do with a second set of ideas/eyes or a different perspective.  Those that 'care to share' will also learn as much as those you intended to educate.  Simple Truth.....Those that don't share are NOT as good as they think they are.....

Why? 

Quite simply... It is about creating a culture within your team that empowers the individuals for the greater good of the team

Having someone copy your code is a compliment, take it that way, but remember you can also be productive and actually.....  Share it ........

Today I wanted to debate the issues of cloning and blatant stealing of games and applications on the relevant app stores.  Whether you are a hardcore iOS lover or a thrifty Android devotee you will all have come across apps that have been cloned.

Anyone remember Flappy Bird?  There were hundreds of copycat games that used some of your valuable storage.  These clones whilst annoying are an inevitable occurrence if a gravy train/gold rush is created.  And we have certainly seen out fair share of these in the main app stores.

A few years before this we had xxxxxx Birds or Angry xxxxxxx clones and this continues today with 2048, Wordscape.........

Guess what?  It even happens for blogs......

I have discovered in recent weeks/months that someone has cloned my entire blog.  Probably not for any other purposes that trying to divert traffic to their sites.... (I'm sure they'll be happy with a few hundred extra page impressions (a month).

Remember: My blog has my name in the URL.....and oh, yes I am flattered.......

Thanks for reading.

Lee.

Consumer or Contributor?

Originally written in March 2018 but never published as I never left....... Now that I have it felt right to post it...

Are you Contributor or Consumer?

I have today finished working for my current company in NZ.  I have dozens of reasons why I chose to leave so I will only put out a few.

• I wanted a new challenge.
• My career was going backwards due to numerous structural changes and then outsourcing.
• Same old approach, same old processes that were as sacrosanct as a religious text with no hope of change.
• I realise that there is so much more (good tech) out there than the bubble we’d been enshrined in and due to our skills rarity.
• Promotions were literally waiting for incumbents in the senior roles to die or retire (Lessened with outsource)
• Desire to chase my own dreams.....while I still can.

Another Issue

Sadly, another issue was that I realised I had become surrounded by more consumers than contributors.  This can be true for many teams and companies and is not unique to the team above. 

In my years back in the business it became obvious that many of the developers were consuming my knowledge (I like sharing), but, at the same time, some were opposed to sharing theirs.  There were a few good eggs though and you know who you are :-)

Which type are you?

There are two types of developers in this world. Those that ‘learn/implement/teach and share’.  And then there are those that learn solely to strengthen their individual position, or in this case (at this firm), their collective position.  Some go as far as making areas of expertise for themselves in a vain attempt to make themselves indispensable, not realising that this selfishness was actually harming the growth of the business and stalled their own career.

I've known of developers with 25+ years’ experience in the tools that had never even posted a blog or a forum answer on 2E or Plex.  Their interest in the tools (and tech) was only deep enough to grow their individual product (business) knowledge.  They’d never given back to the wider community, they had only even dined at the free buffet of knowledge.

I had questions in my mind......

• Who are these people?   
• Why was I wasting my time trying to help change this culture? 
• Perhaps it doesn’t need changing?
• Perhaps the problem is me!

In life we choose our friends and they choose us.  With school and work especially, we are often forced together....

Personal Impact

I had let myself get so despondent about this scenario that I know that even if I went for another job right now, my frustration would be etched across my face and it would do me little good.  I place no blame at the feet of the outsource provider through which I was working via....The damage was already done before that deal was struck.

What Next?

I’m not driven by money, power or job title (so many managers have failed to understand this part of my personality) and suffice to say, I will have many options so I am looking forward to finding my happy place.

Now is the time to take a break, recharge my physical and mental batteries and then look for a future challenge or focus full time on my dreams…..

My biggest takeout is, if you have tried your best to improve the environment around you but see no signs of it improving, walk away.  Some places/teams/processes are just broken, channel the energy somewhere that warrants your investment/time... including you.


Look after yourself and live your dreams.....One life.....

Thanks for reading.
Lee.

p.s. When I got home and told the trouble and strife (wife) that I have resigned.  She said it's the first time she had seen me smiling for a while...... I reckon I made the right call, just in time.

p.p.s. If you find that you are a non-selfish consumer.  i.e. someone who is absorbing the knowledge at present but don't have a forum to pass on your knowledge, that is fine.  Just remember to not become one of the selfish hoarders when your time comes to share your knowledge...

Feeling resourceful...NOT!!!!

My most hated word in the workplace is NOT f**k, w***er, tosser, b***h or even bad words like the ‘c’ word and I don’t mean Christianity, Catholic or Christmas.  All of these used in context (mainly in the pub after work or moaning about a colleague) are okay at varying levels. :-)

The word I hate the most right now in any workplace is ‘Resource’.

“We don’t have the resource?”

“I need to check my resources schedule.”

The reason I cringe at the usage of such a word is purely because I believe it undervalues the skill an individual brings to an organisation.  If your company describes you and your colleagues as a ‘resource’ then it is probably time to consider a move, career change or at least stand up and say "No!".

Not so long ago we had departments that looked after the staff of an organisation, they were called personnel departments and over the years Americanised/morphed into ‘Human Resources’ or HR.  This was the transition point from a meaningful team member with skills and aptitude to a reference number and a salary ceiling associated to him or her.

If the underlying semantics used in your company is ‘resource’ then you are seen and replaceable, able to be replenished, expendable.  Whilst this to some degree is true it does strongly undervalue how hard some people ‘resources’ are to replace.

I work in the IT industry as a software engineer principally and as well as the technical skills (platform, database and languages) required to write code, you also need to have relevant business knowledge for the domain problem involved.  Thinking you can hire someone off the street that will immediately be up to speed for a large system is foolish (at best) or expensive if you are lucky as these people often come at a premium.

Back to that resource word again.....

Looking at what a resource really is we know these as consumable items like coal, sugar, soy, oil, cocoa, wool, metals (like iron, tin and steel) etc.  Many (if not all) of these are traded on exchanges around the world.  This is a perfectly good use of the word 'resource'.

The last time I looked a lump of coal hasn’t coded a single C# function (some might argue that computer aren't far from completing this), a packet of sugar hasn’t written a parsing algorithm and I am not aware of any metals, precious or otherwise, that have written code to manipulate a physics engine for your endless runner game idea.  Outside of the IT industry I haven't seen soy beans provide suicide counselling or oil build a school.

Type ‘Thesaurus Resource’ into google and there are a host of positive (enabling) words that describe resource (the human kind).  Words like ‘Ability’, ‘Capability’, ’Talent’ really stand out.

Resource is a throwaway word bandied around by project managers (in my case) and normally talentless 6ft 5” middle managers (if my last company was anything to go by).  Whenever I hear it I cringe and I am trying to correct any company culture I come across to use more eloquent and most importantly inclusive terms.  I was in a meeting only recently where we are described as resources.  Not a good feeling I must say.

So..... 

I’m beating the drum wherever I work to eradicate this cancerous word and to have is replaced by ‘Capability, Capacity, Skills, Staffing or _____________’ whenever it is used in the context of a human.

Moan over.

Thanks for reading.
Lee.