Might have chosen the wrong career path

I'm going to tell you a little story, FP, that our vet told us.

He told us that he gets really frustrated with the vet school students that get sent to him for clinical placements because they seem to think that veterinary medicine is all about animals and its not ... it's all about people.

The clients are the people that own the animals ... and his is a large animal practice so the clients are mostly farmers. Farmers are businessmen, and to them the animals are an asset which has to pay its way.

Programming is much the same. Programming isn't about computers. It's about people. Because programmes are written for use by people, to whom the computer is merely a tool with which they do their job; and what they need is something that makes sense to them.

There is no such thing as "pure" programming. It's all about understanding the end user's take on things, and what they're trying to achieve, and how your programme is going to help them to achieve that end. Or not.

And all that boring trouleshooting?

Hell, that's about bridging the gap between how the programmer thinks the end user ought to be doing their job and wanting the programme to work, and how the end user actually does their job and wants the prgoramme to work. And at the end of the day you've gotta hand it to them ... the experts on the end users' jos are the end users, not the programmers. So that gap needs to be bridged. Cos if you don't bridge it, they'll take their business elsewere, and you'll be out of a job.

So try to be more positive about that trouble-shooting. Cos that's where the interface with the real world occurs ...

Originally Posted by BeachBall

So try to be more positive about that trouble-shooting. Cos that's where the interface with the real world occurs ...

Yes, Beachie, outstanding story.

Thinking about and designing the user interface is one of my favorite parts of the work. I keep thinking, "How can I design this so that the people who use this will think I'm a stinkin' genius?" LOL And the way to do that, of course, is to try to put yourself as much as you can into the heads of your users - try to understand what they're telling you they need, and try to imagine you're doing their job, and think of ways to do their stuff even better, so they exclaim, "Whoa, that's great - I didn't know you could do that!" And then they give you gold stars and make you feel like a big shot and build statues of you and stuff.

So how many statues have they made of you then, Zengi?

Originally Posted by BeachBall

So how many statues have they made of you then, Zengi?

So far I haven't actually had much success getting that included in my contracts...

You need a better lawyer

IT = troubleshooting. you can and will be hired in totally computer unrelated fields if that's what you want. it is a very desirable field and diverse as well

Originally Posted by PurpByThePound

IT = troubleshooting. you can and will be hired in totally computer unrelated fields if that's what you want. it is a very desirable field and diverse as well

Yup. And with hot legs like Beachballs running around the office, who wouldn't want to work there eh'? <nudge~nudge>

Originally Posted by FritzDaKatx2

Yup. And with hot legs like Beachballs running around the office, who wouldn't want to work there eh'? <nudge~nudge>

An important and sometimes overlooked aspect of ANY career, certainly, is the hotness of your co-workers' legs.

Originally Posted by zengizmo

An important and sometimes overlooked aspect of ANY career, certainly, is the hotness of your co-workers' legs.

Indeed it is Sir, indeeeeed it is.

It is still boring and life draining. I find myself counting the minutes to the hour/half hour and hoping every time I look at the watch that a lot of time had passed. I dont find inspiration in learning more about the things because that is not what I want to be doing in the future. Still i force myself to learn because, well, i gotta know how to the job lol

Looking back, I wish I had gotten a less paying odd job that at least made me enjoy going to work, and be the guy people go to when they happy or at least ok, but not when they have a problem and are in a hurry to get it solved. Like something in sales, clerk, register at some good place. It might pay less but at least i don´t have to break my head trying to fix unforeseen issues or some ridiculous microsoft word issue with the formatting.

After a month in the job that is my conclusion. I dont live in the past and it is the first time this has happened, but let it serve as guidance for the future. My advice is for everyone is not to get comfortable with doing something you find your self miserable in. peace and love!