Firefighting & Hedgerows
Over the past month my job has changed quite a bit. Our IT team went from three members to two. So I’ve had to transition from simply being a programmer to being a firefighter as well. During this shake up, the owners decided they wanted me to cross train and learn the networking, phone systems and all the other little bits of trivia that currently only my coworker knows. He came in on the ground floor and has spent the last few years just getting the company up and running. But at the same time the owners have realized that having all that information centralized in one person’s brain is not ideal. So several weeks ago, all approved IT tasks began coming directly to me to execute. If I didn’t know how something worked, I was to ask my coworker to teach me and complete the task. If it was something I knew how to do, I would hand it off to him.
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Coder’s Block
For the last several weeks I have struggled with programming. I completed all of my large projects and found myself with only mundane and/or repetitive coding in front of me. One day it was so bad that I just clocked out early because I could not get focused. Beginning this week, I would start my day by coming up with some little personal project to get into the right mindset. For instance, I wanted to see if I could pull stats from WordPress.com via Perl scripts. I was unsuccessful but I learned some things along the way. Because of this I was able to transition to another project and get it completed.
These little distractions were helping me overcome my coder’s block but I still struggled. That began to change on Wednesday. I was listening to Buzz Out Loud and the discussion sparked an idea. I got to work and began toying with the idea for geek-maps.com. I worked on it for a little bit and then switched over to my work projects. When I got home that evening I worked for several hours on the site. When I got to work the next morning, I didn’t have as hard a time getting started.
As I continued working throughout the day Thursday and then on Friday I noticed some nice side-effects. There was this new energy for my work. I also found that each project built upon the other and solved problems inherent in both. Another side effect was the overcoming of my writer’s block. As I worked on geek-maps, I began writing about what I was doing and the problems I was trying to solve. My purpose was simple. I was writing to let visitors know what I was up to and, it helped me think things through.
Writing for geek-maps, I was not worried about the topic or my sentence structure or the tone. I just wrote. Some authors say that it is the best way to combat writer’s block. It took this experience for me to see the evidence. I have had all kinds of ideas rattling around in my head, but I have not been motivated enough to write. My hope is that with this renewed energy I will begin to put some of those ideas to paper.
When a solution presents itself
“I find, that if I just sit down to think… the solution presents itself!” – Henry Jones, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”
A thought occurred to me today as I was walking around. Many of my coding roadblocks are overcome after one of my walks. These walks initially began out of boredom, frustration, or sitting for too long. But as I continued the practice, more often than not, a solution would come to me as I wandered around. Each time another roadblock appears now, I am much more likely to get up and go for a walk.
It’s wonderful when I have been beating my head against a wall for several hours and a quick lap brings clarity. This phenomenon also occurs when I’m trying to go to sleep but usually, I simply lie awake thinking through the problem with no solution appearing. Other times, I might be in the shower getting ready for work and an answer will pop into my head.
There have been times where my frustrations have led me to cry out to God for a solution. This should be my first reaction. I could point to psychology or mental tricks but through these experiences I am reminded of where the answers really come from. The ability to reason is an ability given to man by God. God has commanded each of us to work. So who better to ask for wisdom about the job I have than the One who is Wisdom and has commanded me to work.
For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2:6
Sleepless Nights and Lack of Interest
I find myself sitting up past midnight at my computer again. Last night I was working on an application for Facebook. Oddly enough, that is about the only thing that I have been able to concentrate on for more than 10 minutes all week. I probably worked on that project for 4-5 hours yesterday. However, when it comes to the work for which Fielder pays me, that has not been so forth coming. I got the major components of the code complete before I left. When I was working on those parts, I would sit at my computer and lose track of time. Upon my return, I have found myself making cosmetic and simple fixes. I have to do these things but they are not intellectually stimulating. Therefore, I have found myself staring at my monitor in frustration for most of the week.
It is also frustrating that before we started this project, everyone kept harassing about when we would get started. Now that we are in the middle of it, those same people are the ones slowing the progress. I am not innocent in this predicament but it is frustrating nonetheless. My thoughts keep going back to every other programming job I have had over the last seven years. I start and find many projects to keep me busy. Time passes and the boss relegates me to simple editing text. Worse, I find ways to innovate and take the company forward and every piece of the management machine crushes my ideas.
Combine all that with my lack of desire to do anything constructive when I get home and things go down hill quick. I do not know if this is just a case of summer time blues or something more. I have thought about this for the last year or so. Have I left each job because of the lack of stimulation and fulfillment? Perhaps I am lazy, and I chose not to stick out the rough times.
I am reminded of what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9,
- We were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.
Perhaps all this lack of interest and frustration is to break me of my pride. My only prayer is that I pass the test.
A Week in the Life of a Developer – Part 5
The custom CMS package is now displaying text to the browser. I got the text editor working so now updates to said pages can be made easily. But at the same time, the more I work on this, I realize there are more and more components that pop up that need to be coded. There are going to be a lot of late nights trying to get this functioning before I leave for Cambodia in 19 days. That self-imposed deadline is looming large in front of me.
But despite all the stress of feature creep and deadlines, I did have some victories. I have spent the last few weeks trying to develop a module that will allow the end user to reorder pages in their menu structure. I also want the module to allow users to move pages into a hierarchy if they want. And for several weeks, I would write equations and draw diagrams to no avail. The solutions functioned but were incomplete. That was until yesterday. I was taking a break and thinking about the problem. It was almost as if the heavens opened and the answer came forth. It was a simpler solution, yet worked in all situations.
It is moments like that which make me remember why I love programming. The struggles, the puzzles, the late nights trying to debug code are all worth it. And yes even the moments where I realize my complete incompetence. Many times after hours of struggling with something, the solution presents itself. Most times it was staring me in the face the whole time. Yet the next time, I do not make the same mistake or I diagnosis the problem in minutes as opposed to hours.
Day in the Life of a Web Developer – Part 1
I have been attempting for several months to write more often. I would like to get into the habit of writing everyday. I have read that forcing yourself to write everyday increases your creativity. I decided what better way to find material than to write about what I spend 6-8 hours being paid to do.
So, I spent my morning working from home because I had a meeting with a contractor in Mansfield. I did not see the point in wasting gas in driving to Fielder and then back out. I got to Fielder close to noon and sat down to work on the web redesign. I got approval last week to scrap the DotNetNuke CMS (content management system) we were trying to shoe horn to meet our needs. So this week I began full force writing my own CMS system specifically catered to the needs of Fielder Road.
Then this afternoon I had a meeting with the Missions minister. It was a conference call with a contractor pertaining to the new missions’ website. Ideally, I would also do that site but the Communications Team has decided I need to concentrate on one project and not spread myself too thin. I have realized looking at proposals from these design companies than when I was freelancing, I horribly undercharged. I once charged a client probably 10 times less than what some of these companies are proposing for even less of a product. Granted I was in a depressed market in a semi-rural area. I guess that in the MetroPlex you have to charge those kinds of prices in order to stay in business.
Aside from all these meetings, I spent most of my day correcting items on our old website. Sadly, that is how most of my days end up. I sit down to focus and begin coding and a problem or a meeting interrupts me. The stuff I’m working on requires I sit for several hours by myself focused on the problem. I feel like I spend all my time in meetings anymore and it feels like nothing gets accomplished at least in internet communications arena.
