I’m not really sure what I thought I’d accomplish by this age, back when I was like 18 or so. I’ve probably succeeded in most of my “big goal” stuff though:

1. Got my degree – oh how far away that seemed, 6 years ago, when I was just getting into my very first semester, and the initial thrill of campus began to wear off, and the reality of life in first-year engineering began to set in. 8am statics lectures with (now retired) Dr. Brown, who remains one of the greatest teachers I’ve ever had, even though his class was a necessary wake-up call regarding the effort required in engg vs. high school.
2. Got a good job – sometimes I really stop and think about how sweet my job is. Here I am, software developer, working from home. That’s the freakin’ dream. I realize I don’t work for Google or something, but really, I’m getting a great chance to learn, and I’m entrusted with an at-times-shockingly-large amount of responsibility, considering my experience. I’m the lead developer (ok, often the only developer, but still!) on multiple projects of significant importance – my apps need to work, or bad things happen. Sure, if I didn’t do it, somebody else would, but everybody in my group is swamped with their own projects, so they need me to take care of my stuff. I like to think I’m getting pretty good at it – meeting with people, figuring out what they need, and delivering on that.
3. Move out – ok, ok, so I moved out, came back, moved out, came back again, and moving out again as soon as homeland security lets me. Overall though I’ve spent well over 2 years away from home, as a working professional, in cities other than my hometown, so I think that counts for something.

Ok that’s a pretty short list, but I’m not really sure what else I’d hoped to have done in 6 years. I maybe thought I’d get a Master’s degree right away (and thus be done that by now), but I’m glad I didn’t. In my profession, industry experience is more valuable in many ways, or at least the balance between industry and academia needs to be there, as formal methods proves :P

Overall though, “success” is an arbitrary measure – I definitely could have done more with my life thus far, and sometimes regret that I haven’t; I worry that I didn’t do things well enough. But really, there’s nothing I can change about that now, I can only look forward. And hey, the future looks pretty good.

And not just because I’ve accomplished things I set out to do, and because I see a lot of opportunity for myself in the years ahead. I’m legitimately happy, like really amazingly happy, and that is what really brightens my future – and each day.

I’m just thinking ’bout you on this production platform

So my new job title is “Enterprise Developer”. Which I think sounds sweet because it has the word enterprise in the name, although there may be uh, differing opinions on the true job description. Whatever. I’m still looking for the warp core.

Essentially I’ve already been doing this exact job for the past 3 months, although technically my manager will change as I move into the team more devoted to custom development. It still falls under the “Business Applications” umbrella, which is to say that uh, people use our applications for business. Yeah.

Basically we’re the (or, I should say, the best, because there are others) internal software development team for my company. So ya, we develop stuff in-house for our coworkers who need applications to do their stuff. Which is pretty cool because it involves a much closer relationship between developer and end-user than external, third-party software development probably would.

I have some cool projects on-the-go, which is an extremely positive thing. It’s great to be able to go to work everyday and be challenged, but also to learn. I’ll readily admit that I’m still a n00b programmer, especially with the Microsoft technologies popular in the real business world, but these next few years should provide ample experience to hone my skillz. Right now I’m working on a mixed bag including geocoding, workflows, and webforms.

Every week I have meetings with people who need my help – who need me to develop something for them, to solve a problem they have. Their current form system is too inefficient? Bam – workflow time. Their current web app doesn’t meet their needs? Bam – change it all around. Elicit requirements. Design. Develop. Test. Get feedback. Repeat. Real software development. And I totally don’t care that I didn’t recite the exact stages from a classroom model, because really, I don’t use that anyway. Those abstract concepts have their place, to be fair, but this is more quick-paced and small-scale than that.

I guess it’s not the ‘first’ time I’ve been a developer before, but stringing together blocks and wires in LabView to drive RF test equipment was more like being an electrical engineer who needed to know programming than being a true developer. Now, for the first time, I’m part of an applications development team that supports a large number of users, of ‘customers’ – internal though they might be.

Clarke’s Third Law states that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. I find this true of software development. Users really don’t understand, nor do they care to, nor do they need to understand how exactly their software works. That’s not their job. Their job is to do whatever it is they do, and use some software in pursuit of that goal. And that’s where I can now come in, as the person who helps ensure they can do their job better by giving them a better tool.

So ya, I’m pretty stoked about the future. I think I’m really going to enjoy this.

even pretty girl like you

I’ve got a few decision-making deadlines whooshing up at me right now. This whole year has gone by superfast, and I won’t have the luxury of postponing some serious considerations for much longer. Do I want to live in Calgary? Edmonton? Houston? Would I consider quitting my job? Do I want to ensure I have an “engineering” job, or do I want to be a “developer” …or something else? Do I really want to become a long-term resident of the United States? And if so, how long is “long-term”?

A lot of these questions flow from one to the next. I actually drew out a decision tree to visualize the various paths I have available. There’s a lot of things to think about when trying to assess the pros/cons of each option: emotional, economic, environmental, esoteric…

I’m still not entirely sure what I’m going to do. I have a meeting in < 12 hrs. where I’m supposed to discuss what I’m looking for, and I feel like Bono.

There are other decisions to be made too. Not as obviously imminent, because they’re not career-oriented, and nobody is forcing me to make up my mind before a certain date. But still, time waits for no man. I’d better come up with some final answers.

our future was so bright

The statement applies to myself. In each post, I’ll cover another profession, different than my own, and why I sometimes have delusions that maybe I *could* do that job, but also why in the end they’re still primarily delusions.

Well, actually, maybe I really could do these jobs. In fact, I think most people could do most jobs… if they really wanted to. Not without training and experience, of course, in some cases a lot of training and experience, but still. Motivation and effort are great equalizers in human achievement. If someone really, really wants to do/be something, they can overcome a lot of otherwise insurmountable obstacles.

For myself, I’m very fortunate in that a great many potential external disadvantages aren’t really an issue. Thus, if I wanted to do/be something other than what I’m actually doing/being, the primary limiting factor is probably my own desire to change. Thus, any other career that I sorta think I could do (but actually realize I “can’t”) is totally an internal issue. My upcoming admission of self-characteristics that prevent me from pursing these as-yet-unnamed* alternative careers is more a confession of my perceived inability to change myself rather than a protest of limiting factors imposed upon me from an outside source.

* – I haven’t mentioned them because I haven’t actually decided what the list is going to be yet…

Anyhow, ya, I don’t really know what the point of these posts will be. It doesn’t really seem like it’ll be enjoyable to read…

Well, whatever, that’s my new idea. Sometimes I really do have these random thoughts about other jobs, where I can kinda half-visualize myself doing it, but it usually involves me having a modified personality, skill set, etc. (Like a pragmatic version of a superpowers dream…)

Oh, and this doesn’t mean I don’t like my current job, haha. I do like my job! That’s why I spent the past several years striving to be basically exactly where I am now. I say “basically exactly” because my plan was only detailed to a certain extent – where I am now is definitely within measurement error of the best I realistically expected I could be. Which might sound negative, but I mean that in a very complimentary way (to my job).

in creeps the morning and another day’s lost