Looking back on that wonderful night, I realized that I learned a great deal from planning such an important event. Much of what I learned will help me in my career. Below are the highlights.

1. Prioritize

Often times in America, planning of a wedding begins moments after the excitement of the engagement quells. Coming from a male perspective, this is amazing. We spend our time planning to “pop the question”, and then as soon as we do, it is as if the floodgates of wedding expectations and desires open right up. From that point forward, the giant list of preparative tasks stays at the fore-front of our minds. Ever-growing. Never shrinking.

As overwhelming as the list may be, it can be managed through prioritization, by sitting down with your fiancee and discussing those items that are the most important. This exercise leads to a plan that can save you money and time, by realizing which items can be purchased for less money, which items can be delegated, or which items can be left uncompleted.

In addition to the list of known tasks, there will be issues. For example, the color of my vest that I wore on my wedding day was incorrect. It was white when it should have been ivory. I, of course, didn’t notice until it was too late. It was not a big deal. Things like this will happen in weddings and in your career. As long as it does not affect your top priorities, do not let it stress you out. There will be a time and place to resolve such issues. That time is not during your wedding day.

Think of this scenario in the business world. You and a team are working toward a Big Hairy Audacious Goal and it feels as though processes are becoming disorganized. You feel like you have to do everything or you will be a failure. This is simply not true.

Take a step back and evaluate the most significant goals and tasks with your core group. Focus. Make sure to proceed with only those items that will bring progress to your primary goals. If you can achieve them, you will be successful even though things may not be perfect.

2. Outsource

Most people, when planning for a wedding, still have a life to live. They have a full-time job, a social life, family obligations, school… Time management becomes crucial. When wedding planning, you must realize that your time is important, because only you (and your fiancee) can make many of the important decisions. Instead of performing all the work yourself, you MUST delegate/outsource. In my case, I thought I wanted to have complete control over the DJ’s playlist. However, I soon realized that I just wasn’t going to be able to create a complete playlist and also accomplish my bigger goals. “Leave it to the DJ,” I said. “He is a professional, afterall.”

Hopefully you will find that family and friends offer to help with wedding preparations. Perhaps your initial instinct is that you do not need it. I advise you to find a way for them to help. Practice your delegation skills. Remember, your time is critical. If you can relinquish a little bit of control to allow someone else to help, you will have more time to work on the truly important aspects of your wedding. Besides, if you try to do everything yourself, it’s not going to turn out perfectly anyway, because you will run out of time. At the end of it all, make sure to let your helpers know how appreciative you are that they were able to contribute.

At the workplace, how many times have you found yourself working on a rote task because it was easier to perform yourself than to teach someone else how to do it? Please discontinue this dangerous habit! If you are working toward a tight deadline, you must have enough time to do those things that only you can do. Delegate. Outsource. Allow someone else to concentrate on those tasks that you work on just to get them out of your way. He/She may even be able to do them better than you can.

3. Overcommunicate

An important aspect of outsourcing is communication. Most likely, the biggest reason we avoid delegation of tasks is because we fear that the task will not be completed satisfactorily. This is a valid fear. Vendors, colleagues, and friendly helpers all have their own ideas and biases. Without appropriate direction, they will run with them until told to make changes (which will be too late).

Therefore, when planning a wedding or directing a project in our careers, we must overcommunicate. We cannot assume our helpers know what we want. You may not even know what you want right away either. Just make sure to follow-up with them. Express your concerns clearly and with objectivity. Explain how your tastes have changed. Remember, in most cases, you are dealing with professionals. They are skilled in taking an idea and creating something tangible. However, they cannot read your mind.

4. Disrupt Your Comfort Zone

This one is the most important.

There were many, MANY things that I had to do for my wedding that I simply did not want to do. In other words, if I could have avoided uncomfortable obligations, such as giving a speech at the Rehearsal Dinner or having to entertain during the Garter Toss, I would have. However, I would not have realized at the time how much I was missing. Looking back, the uncomfortable times created the memories and stories worth re-telling. Additionally, the uncomfortable efforts gave me experience doing things I was not used to, ultimately giving me more confidence no matter the endeavor going forward.

Ever since that night I have made a concerted effort to try and push myself outside my comfort zone. The book The Think Big Manifesto refers to this as “Getting Comfortable with Discomfort.” I admit, I have not made as many strides as I would have liked in this area. Why? Because doing things outside your comfort zone is HARD! By definition, it means doing things that are uncomfortable. Then, once you have mastered those so they are comfortable, finding new awkward things to do. Without a catalyst or a deep-rooted goal, most people will slip into a rut of comfort.

In the case of a wedding, finding that goal can be simpler. It might be to “have the best time possible,” to “show our family how much we love them,” or to “actually look half-decent while dancing.” In our career and our life, it is much more difficult to find motivation. I encourage you to do some “soul-searching”. Determine what it is you truly want from life and begin moving forward by living outside your comfort zone. If you cannot settle on a worthy goal, I recommend making a list of things that you feel like you should be able to do but have never done.

Here are a couple things on my list:

• Sell Something
• Talk to a Stranger in a bar (Sober)
• Babysit
• Medium-Sized Home Improvement Project

Perform one a week. Perhaps it will open your mind to new possibilities. I will post my progress on this blog as well.

5. Connect

There is no better time to let someone know how special they are than right now. Ok, so this isn’t necessarily career advice, but it does come into play. If you appreciate someone, let them know. Right now. In person. You will be glad you did. You will feel better about spending many hours at work knowing the people you love know you love them.

Some people find this difficult, including myself. If you are one of these people, or for some other reason you would like to say “Congrats” or “I’m Sorry” or “I Love You,” but you can’t or don’t know how, browse to my website, Viternus, which is exactly for situations like this. Create a message that can be delivered at a later date. Perhaps that will take off some of the pressure.

Conclusion

By the end of it all, we had made mistakes and left things unfinished. But guess what? I still consider the event a success. As long as our core group (i.e. my wife and I) are focused and aligned with what we want, it is possible to have success even though everything is not perfect. I will strive for this type of success throughout my life and career.

I like programming at bookstores. Armed with a laptop and earplugs, I find myself at my most creative and in flow when I am around interesting resources. Browsing a few technical or business books, my mind quickly reaches hyper-active problem solving mode. To play off the ancient proverb, when I find my hammer through reading, I immediately notice all the nails I have to pound.

In the Cincinnati area, Barnes & Noble and Borders are the most predominant bookstores with Joseph Beth coming in a distant 3^rd. Bookstores are nice because they are open relatively late (compared to libraries), have coffee bars with Internet, and have seemingly infinite resources on a variety of topics (as compared to Starbucks). At least, they “had” a variety of resources. It seems over the last couple years these large scale bookstores have been phasing out the acquisition of new tech books. It used to be that I could go to the bookstore and utilize the books to do legitimate technical research. Now, it seems that only the heavily mainstream books are on the shelves.

In late 2008, when I should have been seeing books about the Entity Framework or Sync Framework soon after they came out, I did not find anything except on Amazon. The lack of books on new .NET frameworks continued when ASP.NET MVC came out and no physical copies could be found. My strategy used to be to check Amazon to see when new books were about to be released and then to travel to Borders on that day to perform the research I needed. Or sometimes I would browse the books at the store to determine if any were worthy of buying. For those that were, I then bought them on Amazon because they were much cheaper.

Unfortunately, the trend has continued. I am hard pressed to find any interesting books (or those that I have not read already) in the “Computers – Programming” category. And this used to be the key differentiator to me from the coffee shops on every street corner.

I realize that I may not be the ideal customer in the eyes of the bookstore. I have learned not to buy any books from them and commonly use the free Internet provided. However, I at least make a conscious effort to purchase an overpriced beverage every time I abuse the store’s resources.

With the above changes comes my growing disappointment. I miss having a central place to do research, skim random books, surf the Internet, energize myself with caffeine, and watch people. I don’t believe I can get that just from the Internet at home or a coffee shop. Additionally, I prefer to learn through reading books versus through the Internet, mainly because they tend to cover a wider spectrum of knowledge. Usually, a book goes through the basics to the intermediate and then the advanced. Books tend to contain straight-forward walkthroughs, executive summaries, and theoretical concepts. In contrast, the Internet tends to have very specific blog entries that solve a particular problem. When researching this way, I am forced to “jump right in” instead of following a complete tutorial targeting varying experience levels. It can be difficult to find high-level descriptions about a technology and why it is useful.

Is it useful to complain about a problem for which I am not offering a solution? I don’t know. I assume the bookstores are not making very much money by filling their inventory with programming books. Or perhaps authors are no longer producing content in the form of physical page turners. I just hope they know that the technology and programming books were a small part of the overall experience which caused me to buy their coffee. I guess attracting my “type” wasn’t worth it for them.

Perhaps when I win the lottery, I’ll unleash my solution to the dying bookstore industry. More on this in a later post…

Why do I do it?

When I got my job downtown I was determined to begin taking the bus. The closest stop is ridiculously convenient for me. It is less than a half mile away and I pass my mailbox and a grocery store on the way. I don’t take it every day, but about 40% of the time. There are some obvious benefits:

• Extra exercise
• Good people watching
• Save money
• Reduce stress on my car
• Environmentally conscious
• Learn another valuable transportation resource

The biggest benefits

I neglected to mention the 2 biggest benefits in the above list because I want to write about them in more detail.

Time

The bus is great when it is not crowded, so recently, I have shifted my work schedule to be earlier so that the bus ride is less likely to be crowded. Instead of paying attention to driving, I can zone out, sleep, read, text, get on twitter, etc. I get back my commute time.

This is important because lost time is an important issue. The concept has been analyzed many times in other sources, but as developers our time is valuable and easily monetizable. Even if we have day jobs our time outside of that could be spent freelancing, earning significant dollars per hour. Therefore, if I can save an extra hour a day by not having to drive myself to work, then I have saved X dollars, by freeing up that time to work on something else, like this blog post. Now, if it were only socially acceptable to attend work in pajamas, I wouldn’t have to spend time ironing. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Speaking of being productive, I could only imagine what more I could do with my time if the buses I took provided wireless Internet. Then I could actually do billable work. I know that other cities’public bussing systems provide this, so why can’t mine?

Flow

Another great benefit I have noticed is that by starting to exercise my mind on the bus, I am ready to work by the time I get to my desk in the morning. I do not need to “wake up” for an hour once I get there. I don’t feel the need to catch up on twitter, blogs, or emails because I have already done that on the bus. It is a way to “prime the pump.” By consuming some slightly work-related info in a relaxed manner, I am able to feel like my day is starting at my pace without wasting the time I could/should be productive at the office. By the time I am at my desk, I am able to buckle down and get into flow much more quickly.

My recommendation

Here’s my advice if you currently have a significant commute to work and have not tried the bus system enough to get comfortable with it. You can probably ease into it to see if you like it.

To get started, you can search for your local bus system online. You can usually find it by Googling “[Your City] Transit Authority.”

Find the nearest Park ‘n’ Ride, that’s what the Midwest cities call parking lots that are specifically designed for leaving your car there all day while you commute on the bus. There are 2 advantages to using the Park ‘n’ Ride rather than walking. First, you can drive to it. This way you don’t have to try and time the bus schedule as precisely because the car can get you there more quickly. Driving also allows you to be lazy and takes less effort. Second, if you miss the bus and decide you don’t want to wait for the next one, your car will be right there for you to drive into work that day. The Park ‘n’ Ride reduces risk.

Take the bus 2 times a week for a month. This should be long enough for you to decide if you like it and to understand how to utilize the system should you need it in the future. It can be nice to have the option to take the bus to work in certain cases, such as when your car is in the shop or when you will be meeting someone for happy hour who can drive you home.

As you read more of my blog, you’ll realize I love it when I feel like I am getting the most out of something. I feel that way with my local bus system now and I hope to share the benefits with you.

Attribution: Image by caribb

Photo by CarbonNYC

I ask because this is a particular pain point of mine. Personally, I must admit I am not where I should be with programming securely. However, I am definitely experienced enough to be able to spot obvious security issues in a software application. Not a month goes by, not a month, in which I do not stumble upon some basic security vulnerability in code I am maintaining or have to instruct a colleague why a particular implementation could be catastrophic. Do others feel this way about code I have produced? I hope not.

I practice some of the basics:

• No SQL Injection Vulnerabilities
• No Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerabilities
• No storage of passwords in configuration files
• No delivery of sensitive information in plain text

How can we make sure that any developer who puts new code into production knows these standards at a minimum?

I don’t want to have to teach someone again that in-line SQL is bad or that user input can’t be trusted. I don’t want to be able to look into a database and see actual user passwords strewn about. It’s not that I don’t enjoy teaching others about these things; I do very much enjoy teaching. It’s that I shouldn’t have to. There should be a minimum security skill set that any developer should have before getting paid to program.

My frustrations with this problem have been present for years, yet they have not led me to any solutions. How do we teach young developers about security? Assuming every company hiring entry-level developers had an orientation at which best practices were taught, it would still not be long before the next generation of hacks evolved and new security knowledge would be necessary. Which begs the next question, how do we all stay abreast of the most relevant security best practices?

As noted, I am not a security expert. However, I think I am often able to think about how someone could manipulate a system as I am writing code for it. Unfortunately, I tend to only notice these vulnerabilities because I am intimate with the code. My philosophy is always that if there is a vulnerability, even one that can only be known by fully understanding the code, it is just a matter of time before a motivated hacker would be able to find the exploit.

I know that I need to improve my skills. I need to be able to design software solutions to defend against security vulnerabilities. I need to innately understand secure coding tactics. I strive to be a competent developer in these areas. Where do I go to learn best practices without devoting my entire career to this expertise?

My preference would be to get regular (annual or semi-annual) training on the topics I need to improve or that most concern my industry. It would be great to be sent by my company for an uninterrupted session with security experts. Perhaps even better would be if I was able to work closely with a senior developer who was deeply experienced with security considerations. As I have said before, it is important to work in a job at which there are more experienced colleagues to learn from.

In my past experience, it seems that companies do not prioritize security enough. Sure, the boss may say that any new applications or modules must be “secure.”

The real problem, though, is that a lot of this was beyond developers’ abilities. Any reasonably sized company is going to have many developers who are good enough at writing code, but just do not have the security mindset.

From user “Dan Ellis” on StackOverflow.com

As developers, we must be pragmatic, finding the perfect balance between practicality and principles. In other words, if the boss says that an application must be secure, he or she is inherently making a tradeoff. The developer, with security as a requirement, must spend time researching what makes an application secure, how to make it secure, and then implementing the security. All this for features which are not obvious in the final application. Security features in a product usually go unnoticed (if done right) and tend to instead get deprioritized due to the pressures in the corporate world to write software on time and on budget. Additionally, developers are more likely to focus on things that they already know. Don’t you think the typical developer would be more likely to write “working software” on time with the thought that security could be added in later?

Of course this is a misguided approach, but who is going to be the catalyst for change? In my opinion, it is the responsibility of everyone involved in writing software to make sure it is secure. It is the responsibility of the company to ensure that secure practices are a part of the culture, that developers know security is a priority, and that developers are educated about best practices. It is the responsibility of the developer to ask appropriate questions about security and to raise concerns. The developer should also spend personal time learning about security vulnerabilities and how to defend against them.

I would have thought all the horror stories (e.g. here, here, or here) about software applications being hacked and security vulnerabilities causing chaos would be enough for companies to place a higher priority on security. It hasn’t worked, so I need help. What are the points of discussion to convince software development managers that this is a higher concern? Should I just tell them, “Hey, we need to pay attention to this if we don’t want to get sued?!?!”

Links:

Herding Code Podcast #75: Barry Dorrans on Developer Security

The HaaHa Show: Microsoft ASP.NET MVC Security with Haack and Hanselman

Web Security Horror Stories (slideshow)

My duty today is similar to that of Rosalita’s. Today I warn you about signing employment agreements and other contracts when starting a new job without using the leverage that you have. No Firmen. No sign…

10 years ago, Joel Spolsky posted “NDAs and Contracts That You Should Never Sign.” His basic advice was to never sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) that had a non-compete or non-recruitment clause. Much of his advice is still valid.

Think about how you feel on your first day at a new job. Most people get stuck in “sponge mode.” They are absorbing every piece of information and perform every task they are told. At some point in the day, you meet with the Human Resources contact to fill out and sign a collection of paperwork. Among these is the Employment Agreement (also called other names such as Employee Contract or Company Handbook), which may contain the aforementioned clauses. You are in the habit today of following orders, so you read through the paperwork and sign it, despite your conscience telling you not to.

¡No Firmen!

Often times the contract you signed is harmless. You don’t plan to scavenge through your new company and recruit all the best employees for another company. You have never in your history divulged company secrets to competitors for sport. So you think you have nothing to worry about. You figure that you can just sign the document and everyone will be happy.

I have made this mistake before, and to be honest, I still survived. It has caused me some inconveniences over the years though, and I do not like the sneaky, yet fairly standard, methods that companies use to get new employees to sign.

When you are sitting there on your first day hovering over a contract, you probably do not know what you should do if there is language that you would prefer not to commit to. First of all, you should be able to take the document and consult a lawyer if you would like. A company that does not allow this is purely shady. But what if your lawyer instructs you not to sign it? Do you force your brand new company to change it or you will quit? Almost no one I know would feel strongly enough about signing a contract to threaten to quit her job. Most people fear that even making that threat would indicate to their new employer that they are planning to breach the contract, true or not. “How embarrassing would that be?” they think to themselves.

Your employee rights generally entitle you to negotiate employment contracts and agreements. An attorney will help you, if you don’t feel comfortable negotiating on your own. However, some employers might not be willing to negotiate one or more of their standard employment contracts or agreements.

Subsequently, be aware that, although it’s your right, attempting to negotiate an employer’s employment contract or agreement is effectively the same as declining the employer’s initial offer through a counteroffer. If the employer rejects your counteroffer, then the employer might not be legally obliged to again make the original offer.

from “About Employment Contracts and Agreements”

As described above, if you attempt to negotiate the contract, it may void the employer’s initial offer. This is scary territory, territory that I would like all my readers to avoid where possible.

Instead, new employees must use the leverage they have before they lose it. In other words, if you wait until the day you start your new job to review any contracts you might sign, you have waited too long. Your leverage is greatest before you have accepted any offer from your prospective employer, especially if you are currently employed.

“If we don’t do something now, there’s going to be a golf course right where you’re standing.”

After you receive a job offer, a couple of thoughts should go through your mind. Leading the pack might be:

• “Is this the salary I want?”
• “How much notice should I give my current employer?”
• “What does the benefits package include?”

Next in your mind should be “What rights do I have to sign away when starting the new job?”

When discussing your offer is a great time to ask about this. Be up-front with your contact at the new employer and ask if you can see the agreements or contracts you will have to sign when you start. You can then review the contracts and negotiate if necessary. At this point, you have not given notice to your current company, so you have little to lose (even in the worst case) if you choose not to sign the contract. Sure, the new employer could rescind its offer, but at least you can continue working your current job until you find another one. None of your current colleagues or bosses will be the wiser. It sure beats the feeling of helplessness on your first day, doesn’t it?

“No Pen. No Write. No Sign!”

By asking to see employment agreements up-front, you can reduce your risk of being trapped in a clause that concerns you. I see no downside to asking a company for this information. However, I do not necessarily recommend disputing any contract you might disagree with. You must weigh the benefits versus the risks of renegotiating any contract.

With that in mind, please help to spread this knowledge to friends and colleagues, especially those that have technical careers. Employees get “tricked” into signing unfavorable agreements often, yet it only takes a little preparedness and forethought to avoid them. And since you’ve already committed to reading this blog post, I need you to go ahead and sign my petition below. Don’t worry about the consequences. It’s harmless.

image by Kapungo

Update: For more information regarding employment contracts, see this great article
What Every Employee Should Know About Non-Compete Non-Solicitation Contracts.

Late last summer a group of friends were planning a trip to Las Vegas and invited me to come along. I struggled to rationalize the trip until finally settling on the excuse. While in Las Vegas, I promised myself that I would perform research by visiting the headquarters of Zappos, the successful online retailer known for its incredible corporate culture. The goal was to witness first-hand a company that has mastered the art of creating a fun yet productive culture while also serving to motivate me in my own career. I apologize if I spoil the surprise, but it worked!

Planning

I am a bit of a veteran when it comes to Vegas trips. I know what I like and therefore I optimize for those things. However, I was a bit nervous about setting up the tour with Zappos because being productive and talking business does not normally fit into the schedule of planned events when I am on the strip. Fortunately, during planning my nervousness soon turned into excitement.

I reached out to Zappos customer service by finding an e-mail address on their website. Shortly thereafter, I received an informative and encouraging e-mail from someone at Zappos.

Hello,

In an effort to share our culture with visitors we open our doors and offer an experience of the Zappos Environment first hand through a tour. I would love to help facilitate a visit to our office, to include a tour.

Tours are offered Monday through Thursday; and the tour duration is 75 minutes. Tours typically start at 9:00am and the last tour starts at 3:00pm.

Please provide a date and an arrival time, and I’ll coordinate a schedule. One of our wonderful tour guides will WOW you with our history of service.

Zappos.com extends a complimentary shuttle service to all of our guests. If you are interested in the shuttle, please provide the pickup and drop off location(s) as well as a cell phone number.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards.

It may seem like a simple e-mail but I was downright surprised. Maybe I shouldn’t have been, given Zappos’ reputation. The e-mail simultaneously answered nearly every question I had and reinforced my impression that the visit would be worthwhile. I immediately began looking forward to the tour. Looking back, throughout all my interactions with Zappos employees on the visit, I was received with similar tones of courtesy and relevant information.

The Tour

The tour of the Zappos campus was quite fun. Our tour guide, although fairly new to the company, was well trained and a good conversationalist. He delivered enormous amounts of functional knowledge about the company and each department in a very short time. I found the professionalism of every employee to be quite impressive but clearly information is not what made the tour fun.

Although I came to the tour alone, I was included in a group with 13 other people who all worked together at a Zappos supplier. This made things a bit awkward at first, but the tour included multiple tactics to get us out of our comfort zone. Some visitors walked around with Zappos flags, others were asked to ring a bell and yell something that nobody would know about them, and still others got to engage in a hula hoop competition with a random employee (who happened to be walking by at the wrong time). Because doing these things felt completely acceptable, nay expected, it did a great job of loosening up our moods. Additionally, only volunteers did these things. No one was forced to be embarrassed by the zany antics.

Zappos’ culture was very welcoming toward visitors. Almost every department we passed did something to acknowledge us and to make us “feel like Kings.” Many of them shook noisemakers, jingled bells, or played funky music on their computers. Some had funny stories or poems prepared for us. From a visitor’s perspective, I felt special to be welcomed in this way as opposed to feeling like a nuisance to people in the building. From an employee’s perspective, I could not imagine being happy about the distraction of a sizable group of people strolling through my office regularly, and me being expected to make noise and interact with them, but there will be more about that opinion in part 2 of this blog post.

The folks at Zappos wanted to make absolutely sure I left the building with a positive impression. In addition to all the free information, popcorn, and smiles I received, they gave me SWAG! I could barely carry it all (a backpack, Zappos Monopoly, culture books, and more). They let me and the other visitors choose a hard back book from their 2 large book cases in the lobby. I took home The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss. Given that I was on a mid-week Vegas trip I had traveled to Nevada with just a carry-on. There was no way that I could pack all my new stuff and take it home. While I was leaving the Zappos headquarters, I briefly had the thought to ask them if they would ship my stuff home for me. I honestly got the feeling that I would have, but I did not ask.

Conclusion

Visiting Zappos and taking the tour accomplished everything I had hoped. It taught me a great deal about how a unique culture can have brilliant effects, it was fun, and it inspired me to better myself so that I may be more desirable to future employers that have a similar environment. I absolutely recommend that you take a tour yourself. As long as you are interested in business, web development, shoes, or fun, it will be worth your while.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this blog post, in which I analyze the productivity benefits and drawbacks of Zappos’ environment.

Throughout my experience, I have found a wide variation in the quality of work environments of my employers. Speaking as a software developer, some have been healthy & productive, while others have been bureaucratic and restrictive. Therefore, it became a goal of mine to compile a list of questions that I could ask an interviewer of a prospective employer to determine if it would be a place I would like to work. I didn’t get far.

Then recently I stumbled upon a great StackOverflow question. It is essentially an attempt to do what I had always wanted to do: collect a list of indicators about a company that should be viewed as warning signs.

With this content as inspiration I give you my small list of original questions as well as a summary of my favorite entries from Stack Overflow.  My questions cannot uncover all issues.  However, the questions are meant to be questions you can actually ask your interviewer and not be viewed as nosey.

What is the potential for Developers to have to do support? Is Developer support necessary during non-business hours?

Unless working for an EXTREMELY small company, you do not want to be responsible for first-level support. This is bad for several reasons: it limits your productivity, is not an efficient use of your skills, and can be unnecessarily stressful.

What access do other departments (e.g. Sales, QA, Technical Support) have with Developers?

This is simply another question to determine how often other departments may interrupt your productivity. If the person doing Technical Support asks you to fix every issue without troubleshooting first, then you are essentially doing first-level support.

What does the team typically do for lunch (e.g. going out, eating together vs eating at desks)?

The response you want to hear should be based on personal preference but I like to see that the team eats together a couple days a week and the other days work at their desks.

What is the make-up of the team (e.g. experiences, roles)?

I want to hear that the team is diverse. Most important, to me, is that there are at least some people who are more advanced than me. Secondly, I like to see different cultures & perspectives represented, such as males/females, different nationalities & attributes.

How are developers measured?

Lines of Code, although popular, is an extremely flawed metric.

Favorites from the responses on StackOverflow

• Is the primary development language an in-house only product?
• Was it too easy for you to get an offer from the company? (Are there no programming questions when interviewing a new developer?)
• Is the work environment noisy making it difficult to concentrate?
• Is the work schedule an inflexible 8-5?
• What is your refactoring strategy?
• Is access to the internet blocked at work?
• Do the developers work on multiple projects in parallel?
• What are developer workstations like? Single-Monitor?
• What is the tester to developer ratio?

Remember, an interview is a rare opportunity for you to try and determine where you want to work. So ask these questions and good luck!

Perhaps the company:

• Acts reluctant to allow you to give two week’s notice to your (soon-to-be) former employer
• Is more concerned with filling X position by Y date versus finding a great candidate
• Has high turnover
• Scores low on the Joel Test (“2010 Version”)

These are the highlights of my Red Flags of Potential Employers.

Let’s assume the current economic climate is causing abnormal strain on your company. Emotions are running high. Situations are tense. You say to yourself, “this must be how it is everywhere.” I have been in this situation and lived to write about it. In fact, I have specifically worked for companies that have guilted employees into working increased hours & being loyal to the company. To the employees, the poor economy offered zero options to flee. Therefore, the company was able to take advantage of the staff under the guise of encouraging them to aid the company in climbing out of struggling financial times, even though the company was stable.

Fortunately, there are some organizations that have their acts together. In the situation above, a forward-thinking company would have taken advantage of the wealth of talent available, while at the same time solidifying internal morale to retain a high-level of talent.

If you have decided to move on and are looking for said “forward-thinking” company, here are a couple tips to identify them:

Accelerated Projected Learning Rate

When evaluating an employer, it is very important to determine how easy it will be to learn there. This is true for senior-level developers as well as junior and entry-level. Hopefully, you will be able to gather some information about how easy it will be to learn while you are interviewing. An ideal sign would be that you are interviewed by a “lead” developer or you will get to meet the entire team. You want to find a senior-level developer that can clearly communicate. If you cannot find at least one person with a great mix of technical skill and the ability to communicate in-depth concepts clearly, Run!

Disclaimer: This may not apply if you are the one being hired to be that senior-level superstar. In which case, please comment below. I want to read your blog!

Think about how much easier it will be to learn and/or to produce quickly if there is a knowledgeable, experienced technician who is able to communicate solutions to problems. This is the type of person you want to have in your network, but working with him or her every day would be even better.

Existing Development Environment & Architecture

Often times, given varying external forces, developers are faced with situations where a solution seems like it creates more problems than it fixes. This happens at every company, causing the Development Environment & Product Architecture to concede trade-offs.

With this as a given, you want to determine the perspective of the employer toward the existing environment. You would like to see any issues acknowledged via a good communicator who can explain the historical decisions that led to the current environment as well as some of the drawbacks or advantages. It is not unreasonable to ask “what are some of the limitations of the development environment?” Nor to follow up with “what has caused those issues to linger?” You want to hear a clear, objective response that acknowledges the validity of the question as opposed to getting defensive.

The idea is to make sure that the employer recognizes that its system/process/environment is not perfect. It needs to be tended and maintained, just like anything else. If leadership already recognizes that, then it is one less thing that will fall on you to fix later. Also, you may learn that the development environment is rather impressive. If so, you probably want to work there, because you will be able to get more work done and look like a superstar!

Conclusion

All this advice is moot if employers do not want to hire you. Work hard. Stay abreast of new technologies. Work on your communication skills. You will be wanted by a great company, because they are out there!