Warren Shea - World of Warren

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The miracle of creation

Tuesday, June 25th, 2013 at 12:36 am

3/4 today …

I’ll say that as a developer, I feel incredibly blessed in my profession to create. To code something from scratch and behold it’s functionality, clean code, small file size, efficiency, and optimization. It is not unlike a musician that composes a song. Or a baker that bakes a cake. Or a cook that creates a stunning dish. Or an painter that paints a masterpiece. Or a concept artist that creates a cool character.

Basically, it’s extremely rewarding and fulfilling to be in a profession were you create. Creating/building relationships, creating campaigns, creating marketing, building houses, building websites, cooking food, making music, writing books. They’re all professions you can enjoy and feel a sense of accomplishment while working.

I’m very happy I’m not in a profession that is less rewarding – I don’t imagine cashier or waiter to be self-satisfying in the same way. But I could be wrong.

There’s no greater professional joy to me, as a developer, than building something to the best of your skills and perfecting it to the last character. And beholding its mastery. This is how I felt about warrenshea.com when I built it. For that project, is me. And while people could do it in different, better, or worse ways, that project is effectively me and all my development “art”, experience, and skill, in project form. And that is something that, dare I say, is a ‘miracle’ of creation for it is infinitely unique, as is its creator.

I would wager the greatest personal joy would be fathering a son (note: I specifically say son as they would likely be more like me than a daughter). Though I imagine fathering a daughter wouldn’t be too far off.

The greatest professional joy to me, as a manager, has yet to be achieved. But a manager friend of mine has said that his most rewarding moment as a manager was promoting someone that deserved it and the elation of said person. I imagine that that feeling, the feeling of rewarding someone with years of good work, is quite rewarding in itself. And to know you’ve helped assist with that progression is its own reward.

I watch shows like MasterChef and Hell’s Kitchen. Bob Ross’ Painting. Those home improvement shows. And I just think – why is there no web developer show. And the answer is so obvious I shall not say why. But effectively, these shows are about creation. And that is no different from a web developer. I’d freaking LOVE to watch developers compete, talk trash, analyse each other’s code, etc. Just as home cooks can learn a thing or two from MasterChef and Hell’s Kitchen, I’d love to learn a thing or two from a non-tutorial based show about developers. I wager I’m likely the only person ‘in the market’ for this programming. But in 5 years, when they’ve exhausted their ideas…it could happen.

So you think you can write code?
So you think you can compose a song?
So you think you can bake?

It’s only a matter of time…

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I’m done.

Tuesday, June 25th, 2013 at 12:36 am

2/4 today …

I’m starting to realize my age. I can’t believe it myself, but I am. When I was younger, my goal was to be a web expert – expert in all things web. But I realize I’m not 25 anymore. The world is not my oyster, I’m actually passed my peak/prime. Within a few years I’ll likely be a father and my professional skill/rate of growth will decline as other priorities take my time. Hell, it’s already started to decline. But I’m starting to realize: I’m done.

And I look at some people I know, still with their dream of getting into this or doing that. But I think it’s too late for them. And it’s too late for me. And this isn’t me being a pessimist, this is me being a realist. Ironically, me from a couple years ago would likely have been an optimist, still thinking I could achieve my goal/dream. Another word would be…delusional.

And I know some of you are saying “You can’t lose hope, don’t give up on your dream”. And I agree that all is not lost until you give up, but at this point, if you’re not putting 100% into your dream, where you’re already behind – it’s time to face facts: you won’t catch up. Not to those 25 year olds with more natural talent than you have with your natural talent + 10+ years experience. Not unless you put in that 100% – which you should have been doing all along.

I’ve come to the point where I realize I cannot be a web expert. My back-end skill, while okay (maybe 3-4/10) will not grow if I don’t support it. And I’m not. Strategically speaking, I’d have a much higher chance of professional success if I stick to my already strong front-end and nurture and develop it further.

Not thoughts I would have had 4 years ago…but I’m 31 now. I mean, granted being a 31 year old first time manager isn’t bad – perhaps this is the direction my life should go (for the first time, I feel like I have a professional head start on others). But I think development will always come more natural to me. It’s hard to say at this point. Still, it would be easier to nurture a management skill and use that as the basis of my new professional career than to go back to front-end development. I’m not sure if I have a future in front-end development….or rather, I’m not sure how long my skill as a front-end developer will support my professional career. Within the next decade, I’d wager that I will not be that marketable. And don’t get me wrong, it’s not because of my time as a manager – I’ve learned enough front-end that I can continue my progression without doing it on a daily basis – I just don’t think there’s a market for a 40 year old front-end developer. I’ve never seen one at that age in all my years in the job…that’s gotta mean something right? That said, web was/is still in its infancy and where it will go is beyond me.

Enough realism. It’s bumming me out.

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The Art of Development

Tuesday, June 25th, 2013 at 12:35 am

1/4 today…

I’ve spent my career being a developer/front-end developer and I can say that of all the types of development I’ve seen – front-end is the easiest. It’s easy to grasp and there’s a lot of room for error. Though that’s true of any kind of development when you get into it; it can be forgiving. There are an infinite number of ways to get to the best solution and the top 100 ways might not be clear unless you’re really good.

I’ve always thought that anyone who has done any development could do front-end development but I’ve often found that some developers I’ve met absolutely suck at front-end development. I see people doing crazy back-end stuff on their resume but still don’t know that a table shouldn’t be used for layout purposes.

I’d say that good front-end development, like any development, is like an art. There are ways to do things and ways not to. But they’re learned from experience. And that makes the difference between a good front-end developer and a bad one, despite it’s ease. Every kind of development has a box that must be played in. And it’s our job as developers to explore this box and discover how we can play inside (or outside) it. But anytime we play in or outside of the box, we’re creating development “art”.

I look at some pretty good back-end developers, still using tables for layout and I cringe. But they’ve obviously spent their careers learning the “art” of back-end development. And a front-end developer would be lost in this art. Such is “experience” and its value. (I’m almost saying that development “art” is gained through or IS experience).

My point is that, despite having spent a career in front-end development and thinking it’s the easiest of the developmentS, it is not without its unique rules, difficulties, and constraints. But I think the rules and difficulties are more artistically driven than conceptually, logically, or methodically driven. That is to say – you can do less with front-end development but it is, in its way, a skill that takes a lifetime to master.

Well, especially with a breath of new life to front-end. HTML5 and CSS3 both have some aspects to learn to even a seasoned front-end developer. HTML5 Canvas in particular is its own beast. But the new breath of life are the JavaScript frameworks introduced – jQuery, node.js, backbone.js (MVC) are all front-end tools/frameworks/techniques that can be explored with no less difficulty than any back-end language (that is, if front-end had a database…).

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ZOMG AND THIS.

Thursday, June 20th, 2013 at 8:40 pm

I have a lego play date in July with my nephew. Gonna take out all my old Lego’s for him to play with….gonna let him break stuff apart (and then i’m gonna have to rebuild it :S)

Oh wait, not :S

I still like playing with Lego :)

Architect of the world.

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Never thought I’d have so much fun NOT deving

Thursday, June 20th, 2013 at 1:39 am

In recent years, there’s been one constant in my professional career – “I want to dev”. There were roles offered to me that I didn’t take because there wasn’t enough dev. Even when working out my manager role’s responsibilities, the initial “25% of my job is dev” worried me. Too low I thought. But funny enough, as soon as I took the job, I tried to make my 25% go to 0%. That is, I’m trying to delegate all development of my old job. It’s actually pretty awesome – like a weight/responsibility has been lifted off my shoulders. However, a more important responsibility remains in its place.

So I’m not deving anymore – but I’m still walking around, helping the developers out. I find I’m probably helping out at least….6-8 times a day. Which is a lot. But I like it – I come in to help out, and then I step away. I’m just there to support my team – which is honestly what my role is all about: doing the best I can do to support my team.

As Development Lead/Manager, my responsibility is split in two: support my team and dev. That’s it. So the more I dev, the less I support my team. But while dev is fun, it really only helps me. When I support my team, I feel that I’m helping all 13+ of them. And it feels way better doing that than helping myself.

That said, it’s not to say I won’t ever dev – I figure that in my position, I can delegate all my work and take anything I really want for myself. But that hasn’t happened yet, I don’t see it happening for a while, and it might not ever happen while I’m in this role. But it’s nice to know that option is there. (I’m still doing my own dev FOR work, but not WORK TASKS if that makes any sense…so it’s a lot funner – no deadlines).

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“With Great Power comes Great Responsibility”

That line, from Spider-Man, has actually been running through my mind lately. As a dev, my responsibility was only towards myself. I didn’t have “great power” and thus, didn’t have “great responsibility”. I did what I could but felt no obligation to. When pressure was on me, I tried my best. But if I couldn’t do what was needed, I was fine with it. Can’t do more than my best. But in my new role, I have “great power” (not really “great”, more like “some”), but I FEEL that great responsibility. Everyone on my team is my responsibility and even though I’m their boss officially, I feel like they’re all my boss: I do what I can to support them. And in return, they also try to support me. It’s…a great feeling. I just wanna do as much as I can for them so that, in a couple years, when I walk away from the role, I’ll have known that I did my best trying to help each and every one of them in the best way I could have. THAT, is a feeling that I would cherish my entire life. To affect a person’s life, in a positive way. Or even better, affect 15-20 persons directly, in a positive way. It makes me giddy just thinking about it…..which will hopefully be the case. Unless I suck.

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