dreamcatcher fallout

April 10, 2003 under Life

Another noon-time .plan update? This must be important.

Not really, but an update is deserved and it goes nicely with a cucumber-lettuce-tomato sandwich (Frank Black once said that “politics goes so good with beer”). It seems that I stirred the pot, a tad. Take a gander:

[SNIP – START]
Barry (09:40 AM) :
what the hell is with that .plan of yours?

Bullines@Work (09:41 AM) :
Your company sucks ass, man.

Barry (09:43 AM) :
the company does not suck nick forgot to submit the invoice…he admitted that ……and accounting has policies that suck. take down that .plan

Bullines@Work (09:44 AM) :
Next time, I’m gonna “forget” to help that company yours again.

Barry (09:45 AM) :
stop being so righteous….there is policy that has to be taken care of in accounting….if you wanna get freaked get freaked at nick…..he fuct up…and he felt bad for it.

Bullines@Work (09:45 AM) :
He should, and no. The .plan stays. If DC was paying for my hosting, sure, but no.

Barry (09:47 AM) :
take it down

Bullines@Work (09:47 AM) :
Nah, I’m good with it.

Bullines@Work (09:50 AM) :
Believe, me, when you have creditors, I’m sure your accounting dept goes after them like any accoutning depts would. Circle of life, sunrise/sunset and all that shit.
[SNIP – END]

I could just picture them continuing to “forget” to pay me while they use my code in LA. “most invoices take 30 days to fullfill”, they say. Sure thing, I remember payment agreements from my accounting courses…Net 30 and all. But is that 30 days from the day I submitted the code, 30 days from the day I sent the invoice, 30 days from the day management received the invoice, 30 days from the day(s) management forgot to forward the invoice to accounting, 30 days from the day(s) accounting sat on the invoice or 30 days from the day(s) it took accounting to prep and mail the cheque? My accounting department, which is me, wasn’t so sure since I received very little in the way of notices. If it wasn’t for Barry, I wouldn’t know, and I’m sure if I even know now. Either way, it’s best to nip it in the butt now. Note to self: Self, type up a software contract template in Word when you get home from work tonight, before the hockey game starts, but after supper.

[edit]
***** this part is generic and not specific to anyone *****
Remember the kids in school that used to mooch homework and answers from the studious kids? I could rhyme off a few that bugged the hell out of me in my younger days, but I won’t because they have enough problems now working at jobs they hate while supporting their children that they may or may not have custody of (Note: no offense to the honest people of the world that are currently in a similar situation…have patience and good karma will pay off). I guess you can say that I’m tired of doing other people’s work (I could rant about CNC Software, sparked by another recent event, but I won’t due to diplomatic reasons). After three years as a professional developer, I’ve noticed that much like those school days, developers rarely get paid in a timeley fashion if at all. Maybe it’s the geek stereotype of programmers and the like as weak and bumbling nerds incapable of sticking up for themselves; easily taken advantage of by smooth-talking or intimidating “cool” people. I now see why we have lawyers. Now I’m no pasty or nerdy guy, but I’m a geek nonetheless. I’m certain that I’m not the only one with these ideas. C’mon geeks, fuck the bozos (as Pat would say)! Here’s the decision that lays before me:

  1. I don’t mind helping others, when help is deserved.
  2. I mind saving people from the hopeless promises that they make and/or their asses on top of that.
  3. And I mind being told often that I sould mind saving people from the hopeless promises that they make and their asses on top of that.

Where help equals “customized software or web development” or “technical consultation”, 1 shall likely remain a constant because I am who I am. 2 and 3 are both annoying variables, but 3 is barely more tolerable than 2. Since the execution of 3 would nullify 2, 1 and 3 seem like safe bets to adhere to. Due to the nature of 2, it just causes nothing but undesired stress.

***** this part was generic and not specific to anyone *****
[/edit]

Later on in the spring, I think I’ll join a few projects over at Source Forge. Geekiness for the sake of geekiness with like-minded folks. No disrespect to Barry, I think he could’ve helped from the inside a little more being a friend and all, but I don’t know the politics of their company so that’s neither here nor there. DC needs to get their shit together and I don’t want to help them again (sorry, Barry). Perhaps they should consider hiring an in-house programmer to accompany their web designers or form a relationship with a company specializing in outsourced development. Damn, does that bit of advice count as helping? Old habits die hard 😉

PS: This has been a slice of life from that of a developer who participates in custom projects. Dr. Fabbri (who needs to update his website) was right and it’s never left my mind; “Custom software development is a bitch. The most troubling problems that arise are rarely found in code, but rather the people”.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Buzz This
Vote on DZone
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Kick It on DotNetKicks.com
Shout it
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)
comments: 0 »

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>