Depression and the Software Developer: The Last Straw
Here’s a story I’ve been keeping on the back burner for almost a year now. I haven’t published it until now, because it still hit too close to home. But this week, I’ve scheduled an interview with Sharon Cathcart, author of In the Eye of the Beholder, which I am currently reading, and a memoir [...]
Depression and the Software Developer (part 3)
(This is a continuation from part 2 of “Depression and the Software Developer”.)
[Note: This is a recounting of an experience from several years ago. Read the story from the beginning in order to catch up.]
According to psychologist Joe Griffin, the cycle of depression starts when innate needs are not being met. Among these are a [...]
Depression and the Software Developer (Part 2)
(This is a continuation from part 1 of “Depression and the Software Developer”.)
If one of the most powerful weapons against depression is hope, one of its most powerful fuels is hopelessness.
I attacked my next job with gusto and enthusiasm. The company had previously outsourced a project to an offshore contractor, and now that the fit [...]
Depression and the Software Developer
Knowing what I know now, I wonder how I avoided depression for as long as I did:
Stress causes depression.
Perfectionists are more prone to depression.
Isolation reinforces depression.
As a software developer, those frequently go along with the job description. Seasonal Affective Disorder has gotten the rap for at least some of the funk, because many software guys [...]
Software Bugs, Crawling Everywhere
Software developers have a wonderful explanation for why there are so, so many software bugs. Unfortunately, it’s a highly technical explanation that’s very difficult for the layman to understand. I’ll try to summarize, but be aware that the following is a gross oversimplification.
The root problem is that software is complex. And it’s not just that [...]
Too Late, the Code Is Already Written
One way to deal with poor communication on a software project is simply to ignore the people around you and do what you wanted to do anyhow. Of course, this strategy can backfire, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. But in that case, you probably won’t know enough to notice it backfiring, so [...]
7 Best Things About Being a Consulting Software Developer
I ran across the video below at the SDLC blog: “Hug a developer… They’re in terrible pain.”
This came at an significant time for me, because I too have been working on a project that is quite painful for me. It’s painful, because I saw the disaster coming, because I warned about it, because I was [...]
More Reasons to Avoid SourceSafe
I’m helping out with a project I used to work on, one in an organization that uses SourceSafe to manage its source code. Fortunately, this time, I don’t have to deal with SourceSafe this time. All I have to do is to submit my diffs against a baseline, and someone else will have to deal [...]
Refactoring the Monster
This is a story about my first software management success. It’s also a story about my first software management failure. It was a success, because the work got completed, and without any nasty surprises. It was a failure, because I could have made the team more efficient, and I didn’t. Both of these are good [...]