Alternatives
My colleague and friend Todd Webb and I were riding the train to the office discussing my motivation for writing my Breeding post. Todd is very good at asking questions and our conversation helped me verbalize my motivations for a couple ideas I’ve been pushing recently. The two ideas are that:
- Software developers can remain technical for their entire career
- Software developers can become exceptionally good at what they do AND enjoy marriage and parenthood
One of my goals for Software Craftsmanship North America is that the attendees are exposed to alternative career paths. Our speakers have all had extraordinary careers. They have all had opportunities to trade in their credentials for better pay, better titles, and a more normal-sounding life. But they have all chosen to cultivate their craft, to not allow themselves to stop doing what they love, even as they’ve broadened their careers into writing, business leadership, project management, and coaching. I want people to understand that while this sort of career isn’t normal, it is possible, for far more people than are currently choosing it. And we need people to choose this alternative path. We need people to retain their ability to code, even as they develop skills in user experience, business analysis, exploratory testing, marketing, and sales. As our technical tools become increasingly powerful and technical knowledge becomes easier to acquire, the opportunities for generalists and multi-talented individuals will flourish. The result is that in the coming decades, our generation will bring up more master software craftsmen than any previous generations.
My primary motiviation for blogging about Obtiva’s birth and divorce rates was not to pimp Obtiva (that was a secondary motivation :), it was to simply share some statistics that might encourage some geeks who are weighing the pros and cons of marriage and parenthood. Similar to my motivation with SCNA and lifelong programming, I believe there is power in alternatives. My thinking about these alternative paths stems from my training in graduate school.
I was trained as a family therapist in an approach called narrative therapy. Fundamental to this approach is the notion that we live our lives through the lens of our stories about the world. These stories are constructed socially, usually derived from the stories of our parents, our families, our friends, and our cultures. Often, the psychological troubles that people face can be traced back to unhelpful stories (or narratives), and usually these unhelpful stories are dominant cultural narratives, such as: a beautiful woman is a thin woman, or the sign of a successful person is his bank account. Now, it’s not that these dominant narratives are wrong. There are most definitely a lot of thin, beautiful women in the world. Just as there are many successful people who have a lot of money in the bank. The problem comes when these narratives dominate a person’s life to their detriment. If thin is beautiful, then thinner must be more beautiful, right? If money means success, then more money means more success! And so part of what narrative therapists do is help people find alternative stories, exceptions to the dominant narratives, and help people build up their own narratives that better fit their lives. Because it is absolutely possible for a woman to be beautiful and not thin, and for a person to be successful without having a lot of money in the bank.
Nine years ago, I chose to become a software developer because I fell in love with the creative act of crafting software. My definition of success for me has always been that I love my job while providing for my family. I hate the idea of yearning for retirement. I understand that life is a reality for many people. But I am lucky, I found a career I love that pays well enough to sustain our family. I am not alone! Geeks all over the world have discovered the power of software development and have experienced its rewards. What breaks my heart is when I see some of them giving up what they love in order to move up an organizational chart. Several years later, they hate their jobs and have fewer career options because their concrete skills have atrophied. If you enjoy what you do, cling to it. Cultivate it. You can have your cake and eat it too. And it tastes great.
