Kids Today... :-)

Okay, that's a little generic and more than likely an unfair way to start the blog (but it got your attention).

I feel a bit betrayed, so I figured I'd blog about it so the world knows :-) Normally my stuff is game related but whatever, on with it!

I gave the nod to a "new hire" about 7 months ago, a kid that's real green and this was very much his first "real job" out of college. I told my co-workers my opinion after the interview (Sgreth was one of them). We all knew he was mostly a text-book software programmer but we gave him the chance. Mainly because we didn't want to spend a butt ton of money on a principle level engineer especially for the job he was going to be needed for (mainly scripting automation if not entirely). A higher level engineer would become bored instantly.

This guy gave his notice last week and now a few of us have to feel the pain because of it. Mainly Dsmooth because he has to take over the dudes responsibilities until we find a replacement (no req. yet) - so I have to laugh at that since he can now feel some pain :)

Anyway, over the last few months this kid has asked me questions about stock options, IPO, suggestions on getting into development more than what he's doing now and other things that a greenhorn would ask - hell, I did myself. Well, for some odd reason this kid looked up to me for the amount of projects I've worked on, my general knowledge about the subject, etc. And since I'm 30, and he's not THAT much younger than me he saw it as "wow, you can get that far in so few years!"

But unlike him I've been coding since I was 16 and have been coding almost everyday since then. You can learn a lot when you spent your time writing software instead of blowing it all on video games like World of Warcraft and chatting on IM with friends. Call me a dork, whatever :)

Well, after all that he up and leaves? Apparently it was too "stressful" here and he just couldn't keep up. The job isn't that hard (not his at least). I though, for just a minute, that this guy had motivation and drive - by the questions he asked and the amount of time I took out of my day to help him learn the basics of the business its a little bit of a sting that he just up and leaves like that. He's barely got any experience and apparently got the new job via a phone interview (how reputable can the company be if they didn't even care to meet him in person?)

He's a very socially challenged kid and is "The Office" awkward whenever you talk with him (if you've seen The Office you know what I mean by awkward silence). Dsmooth hates him and a few others (Sgreth included) have grown to hate his constant questions... I'm beginning to feel the same way... if he wants to leave then fuck him - he wasted my time now he's on his own trying to not fuck up when he had a stable job here.

I am beginning to believe he needs structure, someone to always pat him on the back and say "good dog" and to be watched more closely. Oh, and less work. More like Cisco, less like my company - we're bleeding edge, on the seat of your pants coding and fixing customer problems a.s.a.p.

In any case, I just find it funny that when I was his age I worked my fingers to the bone, long hours coding as side projects to get co-workers interested in my ideas and taking on whatever they asked. Now I can relax a bit, feel less stressed and know "I did it myself" - not ride it out on the coat tails of a large company when you barely have any experience at all. People like that are what I call "solutions looking for a problem" - in 10 years he'll be in the same position he is today but using big words and phrases to make himself seem more important than he really is to mask the fact that he's gone nowhere.

Kids today...  :-)

CodeMonkey