In October 2004, I was working for a local company writing probation and offender software. I had a lot of fun working there; everyone was really nice and the work wasn't too bad (although it was more bug fixing than engineering).

I still remember one guy there, Charles. He's a real big "UNIX / Slashdot" kind of guy. Some other co-workers and I opened up his computer before he arrived one day and put a huge summer sausage from Costco inside. He was completely dumbfounded when he cracked open the PC and found this (we disconnected his hard drive so he'd have to open it up). When I worked there I also met a really cute girl named Tammy who worked at a company across the hall. She worked at a law firm that handled settlements for fraud cases or something like that. Overall, working there was fun, but it was a job that didn't have any potential. There were 3 main people who obviously were there since day 1 and they pretty much run the show.

I recognized that quickly and started pursuing other interests within a week or two. I left there in December 2004 accepting an offer working for a payment processing startup company. I was one of three people in the company and I was responsible for all software development. It involved working at home everyday, 50 - 90 hours of work a week to stay on schedule, and it got pretty stressful.

Working at home is not all that it's cut out to be. At first, I thought it was a dream job... but long term it definitely takes a certain type of person. Almost everyone I talked to was big on the working in pajamas or being able to do small errands parts. In reality, not leaving the house often is not that great. I had a roommate the entire time I was working at home, so it wasn't as bad as it could be... but you definitely never meet new people at your own house. This led me to a lot of internet dating and is what got me going out all time. I would find excuses to leave the house during the day and talk to people at 7-11 for 30+ minutes. I started going to bars every Friday and Saturday and staying there until close.

I ended up giving a months notice this September (2005) and leaving the company in October. I won't say anything about the details, but I did my best to leave on good terms. I have a feeling that even though I finished all of the engineering involved and almost finished all the development (and even helped locate and train a replacement) that the company is going to scrap my efforts and start from scratch. One of the unique pitfalls of the software industry is that many programmers look at code aestheticly. There are an unlimited number of ways to write code that accomplishes the same task but if the code doesn't "look good" to one person... they would rather rewrite it than use the already complete working logic in the "undesirable" code. I gave up that method of reasoning long ago, but in the industry many folks think like this.

I left that company after accepting an offer from a major semiconductor company and so far I'm loving it. I don't really see myself wanting to leave and I really enjoy every day. All of my colleagues are very professional and very personable. Being able to go back into a cubicle is a great perk too, believe it or not.

Labels: Personal