A Lone Coder in a Big Pond

In 1999, IT was thought of as the place to be. It was easy money, working with new technology, a 9-to-5 office job where developers were overnight millionaires and respected professionals.

Back to reality.

In 2005, I went for a job interview at a company in Niagara area which manufacturers equipment for dentists. The receptionist said I was the most polite and pleasant candidate they had interviewed. I walked into the meeting room to talk with the HR person. With too much make-up, over-styled hair and flirty-but-fashionable clothes, she looked like someone who wanted to be a regular on "Sex in the City". "Our company," she said, "has offices in major American cities." You could almost hear her add, "And I won't be stuck in this backwater dump for long." She looked me over--overweight, glasses and balding--and immediately turned cold. I wasn't one of those handsome TV guys. I was a computer geek applying for a computer geek job. Interviewing me didn't fit with her plans for becoming Somebody.

I slid a copy of my book, "Linux Shell Scripting with Bash", across the table and she pushed it aside without looking at it. She went over every line of my resume and beyond, every job I've ever held, looking for something to fault me on. She couldn't find anything which made her even colder. As I left the building, the receptionist asked, "Do you have a piece of paper calling you back?" I didn't. I was hurt. It wasn't that I didn't get the job. I was told with gestures, if not words, that I was not one of the beautiful people. I was damaged goods, an unfit--or average--human being.

On an episode of the Dr. Phil show, Phil's son Jay was put in "ugly" make-up--overweight, scruffy beard and glasses--in other words, he was dressed as a typical computer professional. After a morning of people avoiding eye contract, people refusing to give directions and people whispering behind his back, Jay pointed out that being treated that way affects one's outlook. He didn't realize how much he assumed everyone was friendly and wanted to talk with him until he had his good looks taken way. Jay began feel tired, isolated and depressed as a result of the way he was treated his fellow superficial human beings.

In my April column, "Life After the Bubble Burst", I talked about how the IT job situation in Canada is very grim. I received emails and had conversations with some highly-skilled IT professionals with good credentials who were unable to find work with industry-standard wages or hours. It can be depressing to be so devalued.

This kind of thing happens in other professions where people are creative and work with their minds. Science fiction author Isaac Asimov, the man who invented the term "android", talked about the challenges facing authors in the book, "How to Enjoy Writing: A Book of Aid and Comfort". In it, Asimov and his wife point out that, as a literary giant, the money he made as an author paid for a reasonable car and a comfortable house...nothing more. As an author myself, I know that I've made less money on my popular Linux book than the price of a late-model used car. And being a published author has been an absolutely useless credential when job hunting.

Even when a Lone Coder secures a job, it's not easy. A programmer is, basically, hired to create a model of the company's policies in a computer. Input numbers, download information and the computer tells what the results will be for the company. This places many programmers in the position of whistle blowers, employees who call attention to errors in the company which need to be repaired.

Author Irving Wallace wrote the New York Times bestselling novel, "The Word", in 1972, the story of a man, Steven Randall, hired by a worldwide corporation to promote a major new product only to discover the product was seriously flawed. In his efforts to uncover proof, he finds out that the executives already know that the product is flawed. The corporation buys out their critics and Randall is left with the choice of participating in the cover-up or being fired from his job and having his reputation and career ruined. Written decades before Enron, Worldcom or the literary-equivalent "The Davinci Code", the book is eerily prophetic.

It's the same decision that most programmers face every day. Is it worth the suffering and humiliation to stand up to speak the truth, especially when you are a "small frog" and everyone else seems unified on defending a lie. I've had to make this choice several times during my life: to tell the truth and to suffer the consequences.

Programmers are underpaid, overworked and undervalued. They are treated with suspicion within companies and without, outcasts of society and keepers of the truth who terrify corrupt corporate brass. How can a programmer avoid cynicism and depression and feel good about their life?

Make Sure It's Not You. You know the kind of guys who bitterly complain about their bosses but when they get promoted they do the very things they hate. Don't let bitterness make you into your own enemy. Every morning I try to read from books on management, psychology or the Bible. I use these books to examine myself, asking not only where other people went wrong but to make sure I'm not making the same mistakes. I take an active role in self- improvement, making sure that I know what's right and that I do it with confidence.

Be Thankful Even When It Is Not Returned. Appreciate what you have. If you have a job, even a bad job, then you have opportunities to make a positive difference. Don't focus on the negatives and be blind to what may come your way. Maximize opportunities.

Dress for Success. Looks shouldn't matter...but they do. Try to fit in as much as possible. Even if you're poor, try to keep a small stock of custom-fitted, quality clothing. If you're a man, go to a high-end men's store where their sales people are paid to make you look good. There is a difference between being a counter-culture slob or someone who treats themselves as valuable. I have to thank Roger at Herzog's in St. Catharines who's kept me looking good since my high school days. Believe that you're worth it and hope that others may see it as well.

The Mind is Nothing without the Body. Eat well, work on the weight, get exercise. The brain is part of the body and if the body isn't doing well, the brain can't perform its best.

Pursue Excellence. In Caledonia, Ontario, there's a dispute over an old land agreement. With the police apparently ordered not to intervene, citizens have been reported to be forming groups to protect themselves from robbery and property damage. But programmers know that if they stand up for the truth, they are equally without protection. Testify to the truth but don't be eaten by revenge--it's not your place to settle scores. Bad executives hurt themselves by their own cleverness, play with fire to prove they are adults. Like the Enron executives who, if they had obeyed the law, would have had no reason to fear the courts, but instead find themselves stripped of their humanity and enslaved like the Nine Ringwraiths in the Lord of the Rings. Pray for their success and for them to get the message.

Recognize Your Worth Even When Others Don't. Most companies treat programmers as disposable employees, a new slave race who are unemployed after a couple of years, their work "confiscated" at the same time. Do quality work and take pride that you've lived above and beyond your end of the bargain, even if companies don't live up to theirs. The welfare of the company's many clients ride on the program backbone that you created. The customers may never know what you've done, but you will when you try to sleep at night.

When I attended Ridley College, the Lower School Headmaster had a sign on his door: "It's not life's big worries that get you down but the pitter-patter of little de-feets. Remember that even the great Isaac Asimov had stories turned down. You may, as George Wheeler said to Randall, be a small frog in a big pond. But in the end, you're the Lone Coder and you may look like a frog, but your life is the only life you've got. Don't let it be taken away from you.

Talk back on the Linux Cafe.

June 17, 2006 

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