On Software (Part Two)

In Part One I wrote about software development, using the analogy of building legos. I ended with a proclamation that I wanted to build legos again.

By itself, that post is a bit of a whine. And for a few years, that’s all it was. But the piece was labeled “Part One” for a reason.

Over the past two years, I have been slowly taking steps to do something about this. I taught myself iOS programming and started working on an app during my free time (as documented here). It was a good start, and I’ve supplemented this with a marked increase in the amount of technical reading that I’ve been doing.

By itself, this wasn’t enough.

It helped in some ways, as it rekindled my passion for programming. Time was always an issue though, and if anything, it put the things I was doing at my day job in even greater contrast.

I then made an attempt to increase my technical work during the day. When my company decided to build an iPad application, I nominated myself to spend time reviewing the code and design, fixing some minor bugs, and so forth. That worked well for about a month, until I was again overwhelmed by the other responsibilities of my job. This was my 2013 New Year’s Resolution, and I failed.

I’ve again made “Build More Legos” a New Year’s Resolution for 2014, and as I announced to my team earlier this week, I came up with a foolproof plan to achieve my goal this year.

I resigned.

I’m happy to announce that I’ve accepted a position of Product Engineer at Esri, the world’s premier GIS software company. As the major technology provider for my current company, I’ve worked with them for years. It’s a company filled with intelligent and interesting people who I am fortunate enough to call my friends.

One of the great perks of joining Esri is that I will continue to work with Schneider Electric and our shared community of customers and business partners. Schneider Electric is a great company doing interesting work, and I’m proud to have been a part of it. I wish nothing but the best for the company, and for my many friends who work there. Leaving Schneider Electric was the single hardest decision of my professional career.

Joining Esri was one of the easiest.

I’m looking forward to my coming year at Esri, a year filled with building legos.

My new luggage tag