My life as a software developer

Over the years, as a software developer, you will put up with a ton of sh*t.

When you look back over your career it will begin to pile up and at times seem like all that horse pucky could not have possibly occurred on your watch. But guess what? it did.

All the crazy bosses, all the crazy schedules, all the crazy customers, all the crazy co-workers. and over time schedules went away and just became management demands by a set date. They might say something like, "All this has to be complete and ready for production in six weeks on that Friday." In the beginning dates were negotiable, but over the years they just became concrete walls that were supposed to be feared and respected. And when events get out of control, the schedule will magically shorten, sometimes by weeks, with the expectation that the same product will be delivered.

You will watch younger colleagues sweat and turn pale, while you fake concern and a belief that it will all work as management demands. Others will quit, while you pretend to believe the impossible will happen. Sometimes everyone gets laid off, sometimes the project slips, sometimes it just all works out. You will learn over the years that management lives in a reality warped zone where all sorts of crazy things can occur. A place where networks never go down, and code libraries always work exactly as expected. They live in a place where developers never try hard enough or smart enough. They get to the end of their careers and congratulate themselves on all the messed up stuff they delivered and all the unenlightened software developers they had to endure. They and they alone were the software super-stars, you were the fodder.

On incredibly rare occasions the software developers turn out to be the super star. Their names might be Bill, Larry, Sergey, Steve, Mark. But you will also notice that over time these rare gems morph into super salesmen and corporate leaders. They must produce an ever more fantastic vision of the future to keep their dream alive. This is the nature of software stardom, this is the nature of producing a product the world has never seen before.
















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