Comments on: Difficulty transitioning from academic to professional

By: Typical month work load | Polymath Programmer

Typical month work load | Polymath Programmer — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:26:42 +0000

[...] we send work to our offshore colleagues. I think those (typically recent graduate) colleagues have some problems of their own, let alone set up a source control system that works across geographic [...]

By: What is a functional spec | Polymath Programmer

What is a functional spec | Polymath Programmer — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:02:40 +0000

[...] my observations and my own experience, I can tell you that sometimes it’s hard to move from an academic realm into the professional realm. There might be tons more code, with massive behemoths of libraries and documentation. Practicality [...]

By: Vincent Tan

Vincent Tan — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:54:54 +0000

Working from home is very much a possibility now. Rentacoder and other freelance sites offer many choices.

I think completing your adsense plugin is a good move. I’m sure you know how software projects can sap your time… Let me know how your beta test goes!

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:16:42 +0000

Well right now I have a non programming day job (I suffered from a major burn out a few years back -> I was doing too much). But I have been writing code in my off hours, a few of my own applications as well as some commercial ones. What I am working towards now is being to work solely from home programming. I have considered doing a few jobs from rentacoder. But right now I want to release my adsense plug in for word press before I get involved in a big project.

By: Vincent Tan

Vincent Tan — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:16:11 +0000

About outsourcing and offshoring, I don’t have an answer. In Singapore, it’s not very prevalent. Thomas Friedman who wrote “The World Is Flat”, suggests upgrading skills to handle more complex roles, what he termed the new middle. Programming might be outsourced, but someone has to manage the resulting code.

So instead of programming, I have to handle the offshore reports. Not too bad. I just wish they produce better code.

And good for you for having flexible working hours! My employer allows quite flexible hours, as in I can start a little earlier or later in the day, so long as I put in 8.5 hours that day.

Programming is a creativity-intensive activity. I’m not sure if my employer gets that. So while I’m working, my muse might not…

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:36:44 +0000

Hey if they are farming out work that much, how do I get them to send me some work?
As for flexible hours. The best firms that I have worked for are very flexible with the hours for their programmers. As long as the programmer delivers results the employer is happy. Sometimes I do my best coding in the middle of the night, sometimes first thing in the morning. Not having a fixed schedule improves my creativity.