Sunday, August 12, 2007 2:03 PM
My first thought, when Martin
Hinshelwood tagged me with this '
becoming a better developer' meme was "what's this nonsense?"
My email chain-letter aversion had already kicked in. My next was surprise that anybody had actually taken enough notice of this blog that they remembered who I was.
After that, I grumbled to myself a bit.
Then, finally, I noticed that I have developed an attitude problem... and that is certainly something I need to work on in order to become a better developer. First, though I need to understand where it comes from.
It's a recent problem, I think, and me starting this blog is a symptom of it. It stems from my returning to Australia, after five long years overseas, to find that the sickly IT industry I left behind is now on life support. Corporations grumble that there are no devs, but universities have cut Comp Sci faculties. Salaries have fallen, despite our booming economy. Our government, which considers telecommunications an unnecessary pain in the arse, won't even acknowledge that we exist. I left the States on the back of a large payrise, feeling like a valued asset, and I came home to a staggering indifference.
My reaction has been to bitch and moan about it. Sure, I'm working and I'm entertaining a side project or seven, but I have this constant need to grumble about everything. My coffeetime conversation at the office consist in a large part of war stories from my time in the States. But when it comes to learning or improving my abilities? I'm not doing a damn thing, and that is not like me at all.
So, step one, is to pick up my game. Start paying attention to now instead of then. Step two? Start playing with some new toys--that's the best way to motivate myself. There are parts of BOOST that I want to learn more about. I want to download the ORCAS beta and see what I can learn about the interop possibilities between .NET and STL containers. I need to set up the LINUX box I've been promising myself for ages, because it's starting to feel as though I'm going to have to change platforms if I want to remain a C++ developer.
Can I become a better developer while continuing to bitch and moan for your entertainment? Why, yes, I believe that I can.
-- JF