The Programmer, or There and Never Back Again.

How it all began

I have been working with software development since 2008. Before that I worked as a analyst in a governmental institute and before that as an environmental engineer (with waste water and hydrology). I am a environmental engineer by education, but I dare say that I am a programmer by heart.

My programming career/adventure started this way pretty much :

Job interview

Manager: We need someone who can do analysis with OIS data and GIS.

Me: Ok, when that would be me. (I did no both this specific data very well and had also worked with GIS for quite some time, so that was all true from my side.)

…

Shortly after the interview I was hired.

Sometime in the first couple of months of employment

Manager: We need a “resource” on a team who is going to work on a large product. Can you wrap up what you are doing.

Me: Ok, sounds interesting.

…

I am not crazy about calling an employee a “resource” - it implies that they are not human beings and that they can be used interchangeably like robots - disregarding individual skills, strengths and weaknesses.

A few days after

Boss: Ok, team is ready for you. (Actually ready not just for me, but for 3-4 other totally noobs in programming. For this manager a “resource” was a “resource”.)

Me: I don’t really know programming, but it sounds exciting.

Boss: The team will get you up to speed. I will say that even though the this manager is/was not very good as a manager (at least no in any area of knowledge) he was the reason that I could actually start really working with programming. For that I am really grateful.

It is not that I didn’t like what I worked with before the reason for the subtitle being “There and Never Back again” is that I feel that programming is something I can work with for the rest of my life and be really happy about it.