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

Everyone’s experience if different.  I can’t stress that enough. On the job I have had quite a few experiences with people that just didn’t seem to get why people didn’t have the same experience as them. The best way to explain how different developer’s can have different experience is using the below 2 examples:

• 2 Java Programmers Have 5 Years Experience: One of the developers is mid level developer working for a financial firm. The 2nd end developer is a senior developer working for a gaming company. They both have 5 years experience so they both should be at the same level right? This is not  quite true. Let’s say  the 2nd developer attended a better college or just had a better understanding of key skills used in his company.  Many factors besides years experience go into what makes someones experience.

• A C++ Programmer With 20+ Years experience Gets A PHP Job and has a coworker with 7 years Of PHP Experience: Does this make the C++ developer any less smart then the PHP developer with more PHP experience? Probably not. I’m guessing that C++ developer would be performing like a mid level PHP developer within a short amount of time and be a senior within a few years at the most.

As you can see from the 2 examples above there are many things that go into a persons experience than just the # of years experience that they have. Factors such as education, if they have had professional experience in the same field or just the industry they worked in.  Never assume that there is something wrong with another developer just because they have had different experiences than you have.

I’ve come to the conclusion that whatever you try to do there will always be negative influences in your life.  These negative influence can be as big or part of your life as you choose. Learning how to control and remove these negative influences is a very important thing to do. This will help both you both in your personal and professional life.

How To Remove Negative Influences

1.  Whenever you hear a negative thought or comment simply don’t give much thought to it.
2. Think of a positive thought when you hear something negative. Positivity always beats negativity and one positive thought will cancel out lots of negative energy.
3. If you deal with negative people remove as much contact with them as possible if you can’t remove them completely from your life.
4. Removing negative places is just as important as removing negative people. If you go to businesses that give your bad service every now and then or treat you bad avoid them. Negative places/people should be avoided as much as possible.

Just remember this. You are what you think. If you’re a positive happy person you will attract positive people and experiences. People also tend to be negative because they have problems or had experiences that made them negative. If you remove as many of these negative influences as possible you will succeed and prosper more.

The last week of 2011 was a very crazy week to say the least. I was only one of about 2 other team members that were in at work. Every single immediate task that came in thus had to be assigned to me . I did my best to do the work of 3 people despite not being as senior as my absent coworkers. I figure I was doing about 70% of what 3 people were doing normally. Not too bad I suppose.

I also suspect  this was a simple test to see how the team would operate without key members present. This may have also been a test to see just how much I could take without loosing my mind. I suspect other more senior management people didn’t think I would be able to handle this. I know at least one supervisor thought I handled it pretty well.

If I’m the only person on the team in the office I’m going to do my best since people are counting on me. During a normal week I would normally just work regular hours. I don’t believe in working extra hours regularly unless it is needed to complete something important. Working extra hours to just make a presence is just  stupid and a waste of time.

Happy 2012!