Reply to: Career path?

[Old Greg]

Great projects chaps.
@sasguru: cretins here are more or less used to your insults. No worries.

FTFY

[mickey]

Great projects chaps.
@sasguru: cuks here are more or less used to your insults. No worries.

[MyUserName]

Got a couple of pet projects of my own, ranging from JavaScript to optimisation problems. What sort of things do you chaps study or work on?

I write applications which help with my hobbies (a membership application for my sword fighting group) or things which make my wife's job as a teacher easier. If those sources run dry I would join in with some open source development (like the boost libraries or something).

[MarillionFan]

I started Statistics but it didn't float my boat; have now spent the last 6 months learning about PLCs and Process controls and it's going well; good combination with current gig too.

Statistics was a little odd for me. Constrained Optimisation and Operational Research, now that was a different kettle of fish.

[Mich the Tester]

Got a couple of pet projects of my own, ranging from JavaScript to optimisation problems. What sort of things do you chaps study or work on?

I started Statistics but it didn't float my boat; have now spent the last 6 months learning about PLCs and Process controls and it's going well; good combination with current gig too.

[mickey]

Also depends on when you're in the mood to study. My concentration levels are highest in the evening to late night. I used to study into the early hours & then go to sleep. I'm not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination and my brain doesn't start firing until much later. As this is the time I spend with the kids when here and then the missus gets upset if I spend all evening studying the only time I get now to learn stuff is on the weekend or nights when I work away.

Got a couple of pet projects of my own, ranging from JavaScript to optimisation problems. What sort of things do you chaps study or work on?

[sasguru]

Why do I get the impression that it's the aforementioned gab skills that are to blame for your success?

Care to define success and share some of those success stories? (save the guardian posts).

It seems to me you're stupid and for that reason I'm out.
HTH, BIDI.

[MarillionFan]

I find it easier to study in blocks of 20, maximum 30 minutes, early in the morning, just before evening meal and then before bed. It actually seems more productive than spending a couple of hours plugging away at it, and I remember the stuff I've learnt.

I've taken to listening to white noise when I study now. I find it hypnotic and it increases the concentration. If I'm doing something creative though, complete opposite, loud booming music, lots of space, white board, pens & I bounce around the room like a mad professor. I do this a lot in meetings(without the music) when attempting to get people to understand new concepts or when collecting business requirements / solutioning.

[mickey]

1. Not enough grads coming through with the requisite technical skills. 2 reasons (1) a fooked up education system (2) only a small fraction of the population would have the requisite mathematical ability anyway.

2. Years of experience in blue-chips doing everything you can think of from development to PM to senior management.

3. Probably most importantly: excellent comms and presentation skills at board level.

In short I'm a strong techie with credibility and the gift of the gab.
Rare as gold dust we are.

Why do I get the impression that it's the aforementioned gab skills that are to blame for your success?

Care to define success and share some of those success stories? (save the guardian posts).

[Mich the Tester]

Also depends on when you're in the mood to study. My concentration levels are highest in the evening to late night. I used to study into the early hours & then go to sleep. I'm not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination and my brain doesn't start firing until much later. As this is the time I spend with the kids when here and then the missus gets upset if I spend all evening studying the only time I get now to learn stuff is on the weekend or nights when I work away.

I find it easier to study in blocks of 20, maximum 30 minutes, early in the morning, just before evening meal and then before bed. It actually seems more productive than spending a couple of hours plugging away at it, and I remember the stuff I've learnt.

[Old Greg]

Also depends on when you're in the mood to study. My concentration levels are highest in the evening to late night. I used to study into the early hours & then go to sleep. I'm not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination and my brain doesn't start firing until much later. As this is the time I spend with the kids when here and then the missus gets upset if I spend all evening studying the only time I get now to learn stuff is on the weekend or nights when I work away.

I am not naturally a morning person, but have 'trained myself'. With a cup of coffee on the train, I can get a lot done by 8:30 a.m. The journey home I save for the conceptually simple work (putting content into web pages for example). I do stuff in the evening as well, once the little ones are asleep and find that I can often solve problems in the evening that fox me in the mornings and vice versa.

[MarillionFan]

I am convinced it is the sleep deprivation that is doing my head in. But there may be something in what you say.

In a way, my little web app project is an experiment to see if I can do a better job with niche in depth industry expertise and business change expertise, than a whizzy 'vanilla' web app developer can. I am not sure that I am picking up 'how to build' as quickly as I once would have, but I am sure I know 'what to build' better.

I think that the democratisation of web development may put things in my favour. Or maybe not...

Also depends on when you're in the mood to study. My concentration levels are highest in the evening to late night. I used to study into the early hours & then go to sleep. I'm not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination and my brain doesn't start firing until much later. As this is the time I spend with the kids when here and then the missus gets upset if I spend all evening studying the only time I get now to learn stuff is on the weekend or nights when I work away.

[sasguru]

Basically I think we are all fairly lucky (those of us without an entitlement mentality anyway) since we get paid more than a decent whack to do, in the main, interesting and enjoyable work. Long may it last.

[russell]

I don't think I will ever go permie, I like contracting and the freedom it brings. Given it's illegal to discriminate against age its not an issue now. I think one could contract into their late 50's easily. Experience is invaluable in this game, and the more you have the better. By your mid 50's after contracting for many years you should have no mortgage and lots of cash/investments with little outgoings.

[Old Greg]

I am only 29 but am already starting to plan my way away from the 'grunt' work. I love programming and the analysis that goes with it, but in my experience problem solving and writing innovative code is such a small proportion of a lot of contracts and I am not sure how many 'admin' sections of applications and boring reports I can write.

My last permie role has put me off management, I managed a development team for a large insurer writing rating engines for quote & buy websites, the 'grunts' were a miserable bunch and argued with every decision anyone made, were negative about anything and can only find fault in every part of life, it was a depressing situation working in a culture like that.

You need to get some management advice from Dodgy. Write out P45s (or contract termination notices) for each of them and suspend them directly above their desks with thread. Walk around the office with a large pair of scissors in your hands. On day 1, pick a fight with the group leader and sack him via scissors cutting thread. YOU are then the leader and they will be cowed and obey you. Hopefully there will be no more need for sackings, but don't hesitate if challenged by a wannabe new leader, or you are toast.