The Wall Street Journal recently published their 2010 survey findings on the best and worst careers, based around factors like income, outlook, environment, etc. As usual, software engineering ranks near the top of the field, though, for the rest of this post to make sense, you’d have to ignore “Web Developer” at #15 -I’m guessing HTML monkeys – and whatever the hell “Computer Programmer” is down at #34.
Now that I think about it, I’ve been pretty lucky to pick a career that seems to have an insatiable demand for a work force, in a place that not only fosters talented software people but also encourages entrepreneurship. That is, there’s always someone with an idea with a need for an engineer for implementation; the demand drives up wages and perks, with an unfortunate downside in jacking up living costs and, well, Californian taxes. The net result is that a “high-tech” job here in the Bay Area pays 60% more than one elsewhere, with cost of living expenses to match.
Back when I was in school, Cal’s College of Letters and Science just started a so-called interdisciplinary studies major – a way to become well-versed in multiple areas of study, to prepare for a world where a single skillset was insufficient, a dabbler of many and a master of none.
Always seemed like a lame way to eek out a degree from Berkeley.
At least they got the idea right, in that there is usually a need for someone who can work in multiple areas, though it may not be immediately obvious. Your typical website or webapp requires a few dedicated individuals to build:
Hm, it’s been a busy couple o’ months. Post-home-purchase, I’ve been occupied with work, as we ramp up additional engineers, projects, and ambitions for this new year.
The experience of working for a real startup – to be more precise, a startup still in its infancy – has been enlightening, though not without stress and mental fatigue. My previous stints at Factset and Tagged were substantially different; these companies were well-established and enjoyed maturity in engineers and processes, something that I find myself in the midst of shaping at LOLapps.
Yay, another new toy to play with. My job was kind enough to give us all very nice – belated – presents yesterday. So now I have a new camera to play with, the touch-screen, fingerprint-happy Sony DSC-T700.
And here I was thinking that my 2-year-old Canon SD630 was advanced; this one has 10 megapixels to work with, scene-sensing auto-config, super-macro mode, facial and smile recognition, anti-motion blur, and something about taking a second picture if it sees an eye blink.
So basically, it strives to live up to its point-and-shoot moniker. Judge for yourself.
I’m moving up the software ladder. Nine months ago I was writing desktop applications for Factset; three months ago I was writing websites for Tagged; and now, I write Facebook applications for LOLApps. This trajectory predicts a soon to-be career in creating tiny web widgets and, inevitably, living off of single lines of code.
With every shift up the ladder, it seems like the pace kicks up a notch, and change comes about much more rapidly. The programmin’ is also a bit easier, but there are more technologies and layers of software to worry about, out here on the guzzlin’ edge of the web. And of course, the competition gets heavier and stiffer.
There’s got to be a rule in the Corporate Handbook for Dummies (TM) which advises that a passerby with no stake in the company’s well-being is better suited to architect its systems than its own employees. Strange custom, woefully true.
Consulting is a pretty lucrative gig in the software industry. Ridiculous hourly rates, architectural design, and flexible work periods are nice perks, but consulting avoids in the hardest part of writing software: the continual maintenance and enhancement of existing code. And really, consulting is the pre-med of the job world; it sounds impressive until you realize the qualifications for entry are essentially zilch.