Secure in Capatilism

I know that no socialistic form of government will ever last very long.  I know this because, no matter how good the intentions some one will always take advantage of the system.  There will always be some one to take advantage of some one elses generosity. 

How do I know this?  Because of the Coffee Leaches!

We have a pretty nice coffee bar in our office.  We have fresh beans, good quaility beans, and a grinder.  One of the people I work with could be considered a Coffee Snob, but he is a super nice guy.  He has no problem going out of his way to help out others.  And he loves coffee.  He is the one behind the coffee bar and the reason it is so top notch.

But we also have Coffee Leaches.  The ones who always leave just enough coffee in the bottom of the pot so they can, in their little minds, justify not making the next pot.  They do not contribute to the effort to make the coffee or in any other way support it.

Their efforts have proven to me that the Leaches will always create the class system.  The doers and the slugs.  Because of this I rest easy.

Learning the Three R's

Respectful - Of your parents

Resourceful - Think for yourself

Responsable - Be a man, take the blame

Chasing the Technology

A big problem I have with people who consider themselves programmers is that they spend most of their time chasing the technology.  They spend more time whack-a-mole code hacking and no time trying to learn the basics, like source control, methodologies or algorithms.

I personally lack in these areas because I do not come from a Computer Science background, but I strive to overcome this.  My favorite computer books deal with ways of thinking about and doing programming, not just code cookbooks.  I observe my programming habits and change them to be better.  I make the effort that I don't see these others making.

I see the chase in people I work with and friends of mine.  I see it in people that think they are doing a great job just because the project they are working on compiles, runs and the client likes the pretty interface.  Unfortunately they have taken so many short cuts in building their monolithic bag-o-crap that the slightest requirements change pops the poop bag leaving a big nasty mess to clean up.

Or they make a change in the code then forget why they changed it and what they changed now the program breaks.  If only they had used soruce control they could roll back to a working copy.

I love the blank stares I get from these chasers when I say that, instead of learning xyz programming language, they should read a programming book, like The Pragmatic Programmer or The Mythical Man Month.  They look at these books and ask "But where is the CODE?"

This is when I realize that I have real job security.