So, it turns out this "job" thing is eating up all my time. I wake up, rush off to the "job". I leave the "job" and get home just in time to cook, eat and watch a couple of episodes of Lost (they're better cooked). Then it's right to bed so I can get up and do it all again the next day.
This doesn't seem like a good way to live.
I’ve been living that way for most of the last 15 years, and I wholeheartedly agree. There’s something wrong with this lifestyle, in spite of its obvious benefits (buying food, paying for housing, and toys!)
The fact that there’s a voluntary component (I choose to work, right?) makes it easy for a person to say “If you don’t like it, you can quit” but I feel like there’s more than just individual choice at play here. There’s a systemic component as well, but I just can’t quite work out how I would change the system if I had the power to do so.
Is the job even half interesting Cleek? Can you tell us more about it?
it’s for a company that does sophisticated data cleansing, analysis and massaging. they’re a subsidiary of the company that was just named as the best place to work in the US. sadly, i’m a lowly contractor, so i don’t get to enjoy most of the perks.
i’m going to be writing a package to help reconcile users’ address data with the change of address data that the US postal service publishes. the software isn’t for address data specifically – this will be just yet another of many different filters/processes that can be applied to any data the user wants to process.
right now, i’m still trying to figure out the build environment. maybe i’ll get to “interesting” next week :)
What sort of tools and technologies will you be using or are you still finding out? Will you be working on your own or as part of a team?
I’m in Oregon again a week Monday for 10 days. I might take some Uncut’s and Word’s with me and mail them to you from the Portland office. :)
right now it looks like it’s going to be good-ol C. it’s a low-level data-reader piece, not a GUI. some of the other sub-teams use C++ and C#, i think. i’m not exactly sure how big the team is yet – four or five people in this section of the code, maybe ? i’ve only really talked with my manager and a guy i knew from another job.
I might take some Uncut’s and Word’s with me and mail them to you from the Portland office.
yeah, do it!