[thelist] Professional Philosopy (long)

[Paul Cowan]

Hey all,

> We've got some awfully high class people on this list, ranging from 
> novices to utterly advanced pros. I sure would like to know about 
> your own, personal work philosophy. Why do you do what you do? What's 
> important about that? What are the values that you reach for? How do 
> you measure whether you've fulfilled them or not? Who are mentors or 
> peers for whom you have a great respect, and why?

Great question. Fantastic. This is a semi-random collection of 
points, which might stray off-topic a bit, but I wanted to write whatever
came to my head: probably because I've never really thought about this
issues so directly before, and wanted to see what came out. Interesting
exercise.

Anyway:

---

I do what I do because I love it: I'm not going to act like I'm an 
Internet pioneer, but I did start in the industry comparatively early: 
my first "real" job post-university was working for a dot-com (we're 
talking 1998 here), and straight away I loved it. The values and 
ideals I developed then, after having used the web for 4 years or so and
watched it grow, are still with me.

To say that you like an industry because it's "cool" sounds lame, but 
that's why I do like it: it's doing something cool. And there's not 
much better than being able to do something cool, and do it
well. It's good to be able to look back on the carnage that is the 
Australian Internet Industry and go "hey, we're still there... 
we're actually doing something right", and knowing that you had 
a part to play in that. 

More generally, I do IT because it appeals to my sensibilities: if 
I were to do something more "mechanical" and "hands-on", I would get 
frustrated because there are a "right way" and a "wrong way" to do 
things, and sometimes there's no freedom. But were I doing something 
more "artsy" (I considered journalism), I would get frustrated because 
there IS no "right way" -- I think what I love about IT is that there 
are any number of "right ways" to do things, and anyone who really 
'groks' what development is all about can appreciate them. There are 
ways of getting something done that work, but are inherently "wrong"; 
there are ways that are right, but might end up not being used for 
business, financial, or whatever other reason. This fascinates me.

My main "value" that I reach for is the one that I think every 
"hacker" programmer reaches for: to do things RIGHT. The elusive 
hacker concept of "elegance" is important here. This doesn't just apply 
to coding, but to everything an Internet-developer-webmaster-dude 
like myself might do in the course of the day. There are network 
designs that just feel "right"; there are server configurations and 
firewall rules and recursive functions and database schemas and 
coding standards and blocks of content that just seem to "click" with
some primal part of the hacker brain. These are not always the ones 
"business drivers" want; one of my greatest challenges (and 
greatest frustrations, and greatest delights) is trying to convince people 
of the joy of an elegant solution.

Be it convincing designers that fixed-width HTML layouts are evil, or 
business managers that a certain feature should be added or removed 
from the site, or management that it's worth putting some money into
accessibility, it's good to try and instil that hacker mindset in 
other people. Measuring this is not easy: but the fact is, because I 
work fundamentally on one site (it wouldn't be too hard to work out
which one, if you care), and am as close as the company in question comes 
to a technical lead, I can look at the site, and see where I have 
succeeded and where I have failed. This is something of an intangible 
measure, but then again my goals are rather nebulous anyway.

I think if I ever stopped having fun here, I would walk away: I am 
here not as a means to an end, but because I have found a job where 
I am appreciated and my talents are considered valuable. My pet hate 
is the treating of people like idiots and not giving them 
responsibility due to their youth: the fact is (modesty mode off) 
I know I'm a good programmer. I see no reason I shouldn't be able 
to take a leadership role and be rewarded appropriately because I'm 
young. Luckily, my current place of employment has given me that 
opportunity, and I appreciate and respect that. I hope that I never make
the mistake of treating someone like an idiot because of their appearance,
experience, or demeanour, instead of their intelligence and ability. 

If the intelligence and ability are lacking, however, I can be harsh.
My respect is, to be honest, a hard thing to earn: I do not suffer 
fools easily. Those peers who DO earn my respect share my love for 
doing things the right way: they love their work, and would take the 
time to do something well rather than a rush job. They would happily
fight for a principle they believed in, and not acquiesce to the merest
whim of those controlling the purse strings. I respect those who show
a bit of spine in their quest to get things done right. I respect and
look up to those who use their experience as a tool, not a crutch or
a weapon.

Anyway, that's enough from me. I look forward to reading the thoughts 
of others.

Cheers,

Paul the newly reflective