Thursday, July 28, 2005

Programming- It's a dog's life

After being a programmer for several years I really feel old, tired and plain fed up
with this life.

Don't get me wrong. I love programming and have a good pay but the company I
work for is just too money minded. Heh! What am I saying ? Of course companies
have to money minded to survive in this cut throat business.

But lately I'm seeing more projects being brought in and me being overburdened. It's
like a cheap sweatshop here - just like a factory workers - we churn out code after code.

Finish one project and another comes in. Long briefings on what to do. Tons of documentation to go
thru. Hundreds of bug-list to fix when the final code is launched for testing.

Sweatshop

To add to the burden, all programmers' Internet access has been revoked.

The bosses and share holders don't care about reputation as they get in more and more new projects
while the rush for completion results in more errors and bugs in the final production codes.

All my superhuman efforts in meeting deadlines is not really appreciated. Some of the codes
that I thought were ingenious just go unnoticed.

Our present customers are getting angry but they don't care... as long as they can get new customers.

Man, I know this is definitely the way to long term corporate death. So just waiting for the day
this company keels over.

However, from the profits so far collected I think this company may outlast me. It's a dog's life...

12 comments:

afoi said...

its more to a slave life actually.. dog, u still can bark at people and bite ppl.. but slave..u cant... u only follow order... damn~

EngLee said...

Come on, man. Calm down... The more project you work on, the more things you learn.

I've been in your situation before. I was doing the same thing as you, keep blaming the company and the BOSS. But, after I left, I found that I really learn a lot of things at that period. (Just to share my experience, maybe your experience is much more worse than mine.)

Btw, how long has you been in this field?

DumbWebProgrammer said...

Five long years... yeah you are right. I've actually learnt a lot. But not the last few months. Now I feel like just a factory worker. Taking design specs and spitting out codes over and over again.

Anyway, I do feel good when doing my own hobbyist website. No problem hacking and changing codes to suite my taste. Pure satisfaction... But no money to be made in it... yet

DumbWebProgrammer said...

you are right afoi. It's NOT a dog's life. It's a slave's life!

EngLee said...

Then, you can consider to work for yourself. There are lots of people earning online money. Some earn from advertisement in their site. Some earn from advertisement in blogging. They really get paid higher than their salary!

But, there's always risk. Not everyone success in that kind of business. If you really have the passion for it, you can do well in it! :)

DumbWebProgrammer said...

I've been giving lots of thought on this lately. Working for myself. I'm already setting some personal projects and working on them on the weekends.

Passion? Yeah I definitely have that. Just that I no longer have that passion in my work place.

I give myself 6 months to see if I can successfully "stand on my own 2 feet".

If yes, only then I'll quit. Wish me luck ..

afoi said...

if it happens that there's any extra prj u cant digest, drop me a mesg..i have some ppl here.... including myself... all the best dude...

DumbWebProgrammer said...

Sure afoi. Likewise throw some my way if the project not suitable for you :)

creativelydesigned said...

pity u! i do love programming also but even if they r willing to pay me twice ur salary..i wont even let myself be a slave like that..i'd rather stay jobless n making money while surfing like i used to do.

DumbWebProgrammer said...

Wow! Making money while surfing. That sounds interesting :)

Anyway I checked out your blog. Perhaps will follow suit.

EngLee said...

Dude, why stop blogging? :)

DumbWebProgrammer said...

no internet access :(