test.ical.ly | getting the web by the balls

Jun/12

27

Do I miss web programming?

5 Comments · Posted by Christian in Miscellaneous

Yesterday I was asked if I miss programming now that I quit being a developer or architect and instead joined the client side and I have to say that for about 5 months straight I haven’t written a single line of code.

Not even for private joys.

 

This didn’t happen over night though.

In my previous job I was much more of an consultant than a developer. Only occasionally I coded a tool to help me with my stuff like fetching Google Analytics data and put it into Excel reports or I developed a prototype to demonstrate scenarios like what can you do with a Facebook app. Nothing went into production nor was it meant to.

But the expertise I have from about 12 years of developing as well as being an architect was put to good use.

I have met some great programmers and many of them consider the act of programming to be an art rather than a craft. Artists might disagree but I can see a point there.

Still for me the act of programming has always been an act of thinking.

That’s also why I often failed at test driven development. I was rarely able to define the goal and then find a way to get there. I used code as much as I use thought to converge to a goal and eventually get there.

And thinking I still do.

I try to find solutions to problems by developing ideas and plans and then seeing them through.



  • http://dhrobbins.myopenid.com/ David Robbins

    As a manager who still does programming I enjoyed your perspective.  In many ways I have used my programming background to gauge solutions that other vendors have offered me. 

    I have a different view of test driven development, in that I seem to be similar to you in that I don’t know what the answer is when I start out; yet, I let the code drive out the solution.  In a way TDD has been my scratch sheet or back of the envelope where I sketch out the ideas with code.  I tend to have fewer tests since I focus on refining as I go, and I hate refactoring tests.

     

  • caefer

    @openid-138103:disqus nice to read I’m not the only one. :)

  • Esaulov Andrey

    You do understand, that programming is like sports – once you get rusty it’s really hard to get back. 5 month is a looooooong time…

  • caefer

    @207bf8999d07ffb7684faf0a9c60cb0f:disqus Oh yes I do know that and I don’t actually plan to come back at least not professionally. But the experience I gained isn’t about operative skills but more about understanding levels of complexity and how to manage dependencies.

  • Pingback: I never mastered test driven development » test.ical.ly

<<

>>

Find it!

Theme Design by devolux.nh2.me
To top