Since I’m currently waiting for a client to approve some changes to a site I’m building for them, I’d thought I’d take a few minutes to talk about my new work environment and what I think about it so far (after two weeks).

So far, so good…..

There are roughly 13 programmers in the office. Some function more as project managers and analysts, others are strictly interface developers, and rest of us do a little of everything as needed. Everyone is within five years of my age, and nearly everyone is a dad (which, by inference, means that this place is a member of the Get Rid of Slimy girlS club). Everyone here understands what everyone else is dealing with at home. And topics of conversation include jumpy seats, exer-saucers, and how much sleep your child got last night (though I stay out of those discussions since the boy sleeps 8-10 hours most nights).

The other thing I really like about the office so far is the attitude. The last time I worked at a client-driven office, it felt like a trauma room. Everyone was completely stressed by the work, and when a client wanted a change, or a deadline was approaching people ran around like headless chickens. Overtime was rampant. Not here. Unless something is really going down, this has been a 9-5 shop. My longest day, caused by an issue with a site we were pushing into production, was 8.5 hours. And we left before the issue was resolved. “It can wait til morning” my manager said as he was leaving. Wow! I thought nothing could wait til morning.

I realize this probably won’t always be the case, but like I said, so far, so good. There’s been precious little overtime worked by anyone since I started. Everyone gets on quite well. The work is interesting. What more could I ask for?

Posted on 2 February 2004