Comments on: Three Things You GOTTA Do if You Want OUT

By: Dennis Gorelik

Dennis Gorelik — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 03:26:51 +0000

So, the price of making transition from corporate IT to Software shop was 80 hours work weeks for 9 months?

What are your working hours now?
What are the benefits (except moral satisfaction)?

By: Allen

Allen — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:14:38 +0000

I’m glad (and a bit envious) to see your happy transition. One thing about it: The Pajama theme has been consistent throughout

Thanks for the “3 things you gotta do” article as well. I would add that having side coding projects can also help demonstrate your skillz.

In general most jobs I ever got – including those in IT were related to the side project from the prior position.

By: Catherine Powell

Catherine Powell — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:55:29 +0000

I’ve seen this problem, too, when someone is right on the cusp of management – that Senior Foo, Foo Lead, Foo Manager area. I’m often interviewing on behalf of companies looking to start a QA team, and they almost always want someone who can build and manage a team but who can also do hands-on work until the team is hired and comes up to speed. That leads to rejecting people for not being able to manage and also for being in management “too long” or “too manager-y”.

It’s a rough spot for a candidate – too fresh to management to be able to get a management job, but too much management to get a contributor job. I think the cross-training you mention applies here, too. After all QA engineer is a different career from engineering management (even if one often follows the other). So you’re a junior manager? Show you can be hands on – test something (open source or not), keep a blog, contract. And hone your management skills – take on organizing a conference track, lead a user group, run a mailing list.

Thanks, Dave, for a good reminder that being able to work both where you have been and where you’re going still matters.

By: Troy Tuttle

Troy Tuttle — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:09:52 +0000

I’ve missed the ‘soul-crushing, corporate IT’ posts I came to really enjoy a couple of years ago.

Thanks for returning to the topic–it’s your best writing because you make it very real.

By: David Christiansen

David Christiansen — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:49:44 +0000

Thanks Mike. I really appreciate that comment.

By: Mike Herrick

Mike Herrick — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:44:51 +0000

2 comments since I witnessed this & have a cameo appearance in the blog post.

1. Ethics/Honesty: Dave has these in spades. He cleared what he did with his former employer’s appropriate authorities. Repeatedly.
2. This hurt a lot: Dave worked obscene hours for 9 months. His ethics prevented him from cheating the system. It was not at all uncommon for Dave to work 80 hour weeks. Dave has been rewarded with a full time super intense job doing what he loves

My point is you could get yourself if you didn’t do this ethically. Dave doesn’t have this problem.

Secondly, you can only do this if you truly love the craft of software. All of it. Not just kinda, but really love it. Its the only way you can have the kind of passion it takes to make a transition like this.