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Developers who simply work for a paycheck have
different priorities so I am going to ask you to forget about them for a
minute. If you joined software development out of pure passion for the
industry then you have a different agenda. Building software is a very
creative and constructive process but the intangible nature of software
makes the parallels to traditional engineering difficult. The job titles
in our industry typically reflect some form of engineering but it seems to have
lost its impact (Do most people think of a software engineer and a civil
engineer having the same qualities?). Yet we do still share many of the
same feelings and priorities as conventional craftsmen.
Things like:
- A tendency towards perfectionism (ever caught
yourself tweaking the UI or code a little to get it aligned just
right?)
- Pride for the end product
- Strong sense of ownership
- Criticism of other work
- Responsibility for flaws
- Strong affection for our tools of the trade
(editors, IDEs, utilities, home grown tools)
- Strong need to use new tools and
processes
Some agile practices (collective code ownership,
pair programming, good enough) seem to reduce some of these basic craftsman
tendencies but they still exist in some form.
Unfortunately these traits don't always align with
the business interests of the project so we have to balance the different
priorities to achieve the optimal environment. How can we understand these
tendencies to enjoy our work more and motivate others on our team?
- Introduce new technologies and techniques
in a controlled manner so that the team is able to try new things without
taking large risks. Be sure to include developers in this decision
making process - after all they should be the ones 'in the know' on new
technologies, right?
- Practice pair programming to encourage
communication, sharing of skills and team building - this can bring a lot of
satisfaction to a developer team without changing the tasks or the priorities
of the project.
- Encourage participation in community developer
events (user groups, code camps), blogs (share links across the team), books
(monthly bookshelf anyone?) and conferences.
- Avoid generalized training - in my opinion this
tends to serve the paycheck programmer more than the dedicated ones.
Instead prefer specialized training which focuses on particular
new techniques that have already been piloted and now use that training
time to get a jumpstart and avoid early pitfalls.
- Interesting projects - this is tough to control
since business priorities and budgets usually dictate the schedule
however there are often ways to make projects more interesting without risking
timeline or budget.
- Satisfy your customer - there is nothing better
than the feeling of a job well done to motivate a developer
team!
Some of these ideas have been very
successful on our projects. What motivates you and your developer
team?
BTW - We are looking for another TDD .NET Developer to join our developer
team.
Jonathan Cogley is the CEO and founder of
Thycotic Software, a .NET consulting company and ISV in Washington DC.
Thycotic has just released Thycotic Secret
Server which is a secure web-based
solution to both "Where is my Hotmail password?" and "Who has the password for
our domain name?". Secret Server is the leader in secret management
and sharing within companies and teams.
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Google's new Trends service (which
appears to be the old Zeitgeist but now on
demand) allows you to find out what people are searching on.
I tried it with a number of different Microsoft agile terms and was surprised
at the results:
It is only a relative comparison without any real numbers or drilldown
capability so it is hard to read much into the results. However it seems
that other countries are searching for more Microsoft agile stuff than the
US. Is this a side effect of offshoring? Is this indicative of a
greater number of developers in these countries or just more developers with
time to search for new techniques? Hard to know but interesting
nonetheless.
Jonathan Cogley is the CEO and founder of
Thycotic Software, a .NET consulting company and ISV in Washington DC.
Thycotic has just released Thycotic Secret
Server which is a secure web-based
solution to both "Where is my Hotmail password?" and "Who has the password for
our domain name?". Secret Server is the leader in secret management
and sharing within companies and teams.
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In our last round of hiring, I had a great
response from my blog post so I am trying it again. We are looking for
another top calibre developer to join our team - this is a great opportunity
to practice agile techniques on the Microsoft .NET platform from an
experienced team while working on great products and with interesting
clients.
We are looking for a highly skilled, motivated
.NET software developer to join our consulting team. We are a unique
employer since we build software in a way that makes developers and clients
happy - a way that actually works! (The Thycotic
Approach)
Requirements for this position
include:
- You live, breathe, sleep, eat and drink code
(preferably of the C# or VB.NET flavor)
- You want to develop using Test Driven
Development (yes, that is *ALL* we do!)
- You enjoy or are prepared to try Pair
Programming
- You have a good understanding of Object Oriented
principles, the .NET Framework, ASP.NET, relational databases and web
application development
- You have the permanent legal right to work in
the United States
- You have excellent written and spoken
English
- You are willing to work in the Washington DC
Metro Area
Preferred but not absolutely
required:
- You have strong experience with ASP.NET and
ASP.NET Web Services
- You are very familiar with Microsoft SQL Server
- stored procedures, triggers, functions and general SQL
- You want to be involved in the wider development
community including blogging, articles and presentations
- You have a Bachelor's degree (or even
further study) in Computer Science
Intangible criteria:
- Prepared to do what it takes to deliver value to
the client
- Work with others in an environment that
encourages new ideas and improvement
About Thycotic:
Thycotic is a developer-minded consulting
company and ISV operating in the Washington DC area. The company is a
leader in agile techniques on the Microsoft .NET platform including Test Driven
Development and Extreme Programming. We are a Microsoft Gold Certified
Partner with strong involvement in upcoming Microsoft
technologies. We continually deliver successful projects that are on time
and on budget to happy customers while developers maintain sensible hours,
vacation schedules and drink lots of FREE soda. Thycotic also offers
opportunities to perform training and work on our own software products.
Stop reading about TDD and come join Thycotic to practice it!
The position carries a very competitive
salary based on skills and experience. It also includes an annual
incentive bonus based on mutual goals. The benefits include healthcare,
retirement and generous vacation and conference time. Thycotic always
looks to provide the optimal working experience (however possible) to retain the
most talented developers.
Please send your resume and a brief summary
explaining your interest in TDD and Thycotic to tdd_me_now@thycotic.com
(Sorry, no visas or sponsorship available, no
remote working)
(TDD Job, Test Driven Development Job, TDD C#, TDD
VB.NET, NUnit Job, NUnitAsp Job, NAnt Job, CruiseControl.NET
Job)