iamacp.com – I Am A Computer Programmer
All about the daily work issues of a Java/J2EE Computer Programmer

There are many ways to annoy a programmer. I will discuss the top 5 ways to annoy a programmer.

• Disturb Him When He’s In The Zone: If I’m in a deep state of concentration please don’t bother me.  If you’re focusing deep and hard on a problem and making progress don’t make me loose focus. There is really nothing more aggravating than having to waste time to get back to that focus on the problem I was working on.

• Ask Him If He’s Done Yet:  This is probably one of the most annoying things you can ask a programmer despite being necessary sometimes. If I’m working on a task and making progress don’t ask me if I’m done every hour. Excessive asking for updates is counter productive and will only serve to delay actual completion of the task at hand.

• Expect Him To Change Things At The Last Minute: Please whatever you do don’t expect me to change things right at the last minute and expect them to work. Certain code changes to the code may require me to run all my unit tests from scratch. If you change the requirements at least give me more time to complete the task. I’m a developer not a miracle worker. Expecting big changes at the last minute and expecting them to work is asking for the impossible.

• Assume My Experiences Are The Same As Yours:  I’ve come to the conclusions that no 2 programmers experiences are the same. Some programmers have a ton of front experience while others have a ton of middle tier experience. Many other developers know far less about SQL optimization but can write and understand queries.  There are many others that are have strong communication skills which make up for there lack of technical knowledge. Just please don’t assume I know the same things that you know. I’m not stupid just because I don’t have your knowledge. I’m human and can always learn new things.

• Create A Negative Work Environment:  I’m a firm believer in positivity. This is the way I live my life. There is nothing worse than a work environment where people complain and gossip. People that put down there coworkers have nothing better to do.

These reasons above are my top 5 ways to annoy a programmer.

I’ve been a computer programmer for well over 5 years now and truly think in logic. I think about any decision in my personal and professional life in terms of logic.  For example when I make a decision I think about in terms of if  in terms like “I do this what will happen?”.  Usually the answer comes to me. This is why I usually only take moderate risks at the most with a 50%-100% chance of succeeding.

Thinking about decisions in a more logical manner has been a true asset to my life over the past few years.

Throughout my time as a programmer I have had many dealings with recruiters and become a expert at dealing with them. Sometimes some of those recruiters would step out of bounds to what I would consider reasonable. This unreasonable behavior has caused me to not do business with them. I will discuss some of the reasons to blacklist a given recruiter.

•  Calling At My Employer’s Phone:  There are some recruiters that attempt to navigate a companies directory and solicit on your office extension. This is totally the most unethical thing a company can do.  If you’re in a open office would you want your boss/coworkers to hear you talking about other opportunities? Even if I was looking I would not want anyone inside my company knowing. Nor would I want to even give my employer the slightest idea I was looking. This alone has the potential to put your job in jeopardy.

• Calling Too Much: Why are you calling me every week? I’ve had recruiters call me every week pushing the same opportunities I’m not interested in. Likewise if  your leaving  2-3 messages every week for a month  that’s too much. Can you get the hint I don’t have time to return the call?

• Emailing Me At My Company’s Address: This is along the same lines as calling on you companies phone number. Why are you emailing me on my companies address and where did you get this information? I don’t give out my  work email simply because I don’t want to be bothered at that address.  Recruiters that do that make companies the read employees email think they are scoping out the competition even when they aren’t.

• Recruiter Is Offshore:  I’m a proud supporter of the US economy. Why am I going to do business with a recruiters in another country? I’m not going to settle for a low pay rate when I can do business with a US recruiter and get a fair market rate for my work.

The reasons above are just some of the many reasons to blacklist recruiters.