Living in the realm of satisfying development work

Way back in 2004, when I first started writing blog entries on weblogs.asp.net, I made a lot of posts about what it takes to be satisfied in development work. The winter before that I got laid-off from a job I didn't like anyway, and I started the year making mad money on a contract job at Progressive.

But I wasn't happy. Despite all of that money, I was bored to tears and disinterested. During that time I did manage to build PointBuzz, largely on existing code, but I wasn't doing much in the way of work for me. I thought at the time that maybe being full-time for me and not The Man was the only thing that would make me happy.

By spring, the book I talked about writing since the previous fall looked like a certainty, and I got a contract from Addison-Wesley. I quit Progressive, and did a lot of thinking, relaxing and writing that summer. I remember crashing in the "red room" at home in the sun, laptop with me, books around me, writing. My former wife thought maybe I was depressed or unmotivated, but I had a lot going on my head (something I wish I would've communicated more to her).

I went a long time not working a day job, getting by on the little bit of money that the business was generating. Early in 2005 I started contracting for a local firm, and I really liked the client they tasked me to work with. I had a great volleyball team that spring too. I was a little concerned that despite all of the contemplation in the prior year, I had no game plan to really build a business.

Then, in April of 2005, my wife left, and I was plunged into a panic of sorts. In the long run, we never got back together, but we both learned a lot more about ourselves, something that's easier when you don't have to look out for someone else. I stopped contracting in the fall and coached high school volleyball, and wondered if I wanted to write code at all. Ever.

At the start of 2006, running out of cash again, I looked for a job. In January, I took at job at Insurance.com. The truth is that I hated it, probably for the first several months. I didn't like the rigidity of the 9-to-5 routine. I took the job because the start-up atmosphere was still there, but with a slightly more mature organizational feel. But I couldn't get over that loathing toward myself for working for The Man. I felt like I was weak, and not driven enough to work for me.

Six months into it, I started to do work that I enjoyed. I was getting projects that were interesting to me. I wasn't totally sold on the place, but I was working with incredibly talented people, and that turned me on. It was the thing I didn't like about consulting. If you're the smartest person in the room, you don't grow much. At this job, there were scary brilliant people around me.

By the time this year started, things had turned around. I found myself taking ownership in stuff. The company was looking out for us and I felt like I was actually compensated for what I was worth, a feeling I've never had at any day job. I was getting validation that I used to tell myself I didn't need. Simply put, I liked my job, and I liked writing code again.

Today a substantial amount of code that I wrote went into production, and that's a good feeling. This year I was motivated to hit a milestone on my forum re-write, and I feel like I can quickly start to crank out components for my various sites. This line of work is fun again.