Noob Review
Long time no blog, loads of catching up to do. Surprisingly there is still a lot of people coming to read here despite the long absence. First of all, thank you for sticking around or swinging by if you are new here. My last post was a noob review that I published late March of this year. I made a quick review of a bit of software that the creator did not find to be fair.
For a time I contemplated updating the post but quickly realised it would defeat the purpose of what I want Noob Review to be. Noob review is about discovering something without studying it first, I litterally write it as I start using it. It takes me about two hours to finish taking up notes and screen shots then about a couple days to edit and format the post. I really want it to be a quick take on stuff.
Enough about Noob review. Let’s move onto the next topic.
Catching up on that job I left
For most of the past two years I worked in a company where I have been able to hone my skills as a developer. Surrounded by experienced and talented people I did grow into what I believe to be a senior. Yes, technically I was already seen as such but only seeing what I was able to deliver made me realise to which extent. It was an environment where I used to have my ideas challenged and challenge others ideas day in day out.
Such environment is great to learn how to validate your assertions more carefully and overall improve your thought process to come out on top of these challenges. It became a sort of game where most of my enjoyment laid. Intellectual jousts to build the best solution possible while considering time and money constraints were great. However, my enjoyment shifted over time. It shifted towards Tuesdays football games, Friday drinks and everything else involving the workplace except for the actual work.
This did last for a while before I came to the realisation that I grew bored of work. Not bored of working, more like bored with my job. Yet, I still loved building solutions as you know from my short-lived Hestya experience and that Coinzprofit app I built during that period of time. My problem was that I was not doing any of these things anymore at work. Any attempt of discussing a potential solution or improvement within the way we worked was seen as an offense. Our sort of technical council just became a bunch of people agreeing with each other. On top of that my backlog was running thin. One would be happy with having little work to do with the pay I had. I was not, I wanted to do meaningful work again.
That challenge I found
I looked for a new job about a month and got lucky enough to have more than one interesting offer to choose from. That is when I handed over my resignation in March and signed a contract to join BJSS. I believe is the right place to continue my progression. I started two months ago and I do enjoy it so far. Despite moving from the startup world to the corporate one it feels as friendly and open as a startup would. There are a couple more rules to adapt to but nothing too crazy. The biggest change I made is leaving my t-shirts home but now I use them for my gym sessions so I don’t miss them too much. By the way I will be taking part in a charity event for the Make-a-Wish foundation organised by Microsoft. Along with a BJSS sponsored team we will take on other companies by playing Unreal Tournament GOTY edition in a couple weeks time at the Microsoft Reactor. You can find more details about how to register your company and/or make donations to the event here.
Wrapping up
I believe that is enough catching up for now, I will try not to have such big breaks in the future and get back to my monthly-ish posting rythm. Thanks for swinging by and the next post will move back to more technical stuff. I guess that if there is something you need to remember from this post apart from the charity bit, it is that you need to do you. If you are not happy with where you are nor what you are doing it is likely to negatively affect you and those around you. Personally and professionally. Take care of yourself, maybe you need to talk to someone, maybe you need to exercise more, maybe you need to chill and take time to enjoy life. Maybe you need to change job. Just listen to yourself and you will be fine. Unless you’re wrong. This post is not the Bible or <insert book of wisdom you like to read like Bridget Jones’ baby>, just do whatever you feel is right to keep movin forth. You won’t live forever so better not waste time being unhappy.
Till next time!