"I have been thinking for quite a while about starting a blog, and the time has come.
The purpose of my blog..."
THEN LIFE HAPPENED.
The team experienced more turn-over than we have had to deal with for quite a while. My Business Analyst (and "right hand man") resigned to pursue an opportunity with another company. One of my developers resigned to go to Space X (it is hard to fight something like that). We gained a couple of people, we lost a couple of people including my manager and most of our "development support" staff. Mostly normal turn-over kind of things, but stressful, nonetheless. Overall, I think the team has weathered it well, and learned from the experience.
We also suffered through: some production system challenges that meant long hours and tons of pressure from the business; reworking of some of our process and procedures to accommodate tactical and strategic IT plans; and a workload that is hard on a small staff with limited resources.
Despite these stresses and challenges (or possibly because of them), some good things happened for my personal career. When my manager resigned, and I was promoted. This meant that for a time I was responsible for all my team lead duties, all my supervisor duties, AND all of his duties. It was a new challenge and I worked through it, finding a way to make it all work and adjusting my work load and work flow to accommodate. Going from "doing" to "delegating" is a very hard thing for people like me. It was not easy on me, my team or my family. But, as I often say, "If it was easy, ANYONE could do it!"
I am always my worst critic, and the things I could have done better often stand out more in my memory than the things that I did right. I must have done more right than wrong though, because 6 months later I was promoted to Director of Application Services. I have no doubt that a significant factor in my recent elevations has been "being in the right place at the right time", but as I become more comfortable in my skin as a member of management, I can tell that my skill and ability is increasing. And my focus remains on further improvement and stretching to meet and exceed expectations; expectations laid upon me by the company, as well as those laid upon me by myself. I am also currently working on my PMP, and have been offered a spot on the Computer Science & Industrial Technology Advisory Board for Southeastern Louisiana University.
So.... with all these things happening, the blog did not. I thought about it often, more in the last few weeks than ever, but just never actually sat down and worked on it. I have decided to re-commit to writing, and so my first new post is a reboot, a "what happened to the blog" post as well, as an update to my first post.
From post #1 (with updates in italics):
Why am I qualified to give advice and opinions on these topics? I am not entirely sure that I am. I have been developing software since 1979. I started with a TRS-80 and "trash basic" in the 3rd grade. I tried it out in a class and my life changed. I have had a passion for computers, technology and software since. I have learned untold number of languages over the years, and equally as many patterns and techniques. I have been in the professional world since the early 90's, and have worked for companies that range from LARGE banks to a consulting company with five employees including two and a half developers (one was part time). I currently work for a mid-size, national auto insurance company. My responsibilities have ranged from humble beginnings as a help-desk tech through a few ups and downs to my current position as the
I am always open to constructive criticism, and am willing to consider points of view other than my own. I have learned that good honest debate is sometimes the best way to learn something new.
And so it begins (again)...
