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Re: Don't Let Architecture Astronauts Scare You

• To: xml-dev@l...
• Subject: Re: Don't Let Architecture Astronauts Scare You
• From: "Andrzej Jan Taramina" <andrzej@c...>
• Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 07:50:45 -0400
• Cc: mc@x...
• In-reply-to: <6EBGE07JDHFNMGDV07SQB7KIZTHBGE.3d861b53@MChamp>
• Organization: Chaeron Consulting Corporation
• Priority: normal
• Reply-to: andrzej@c...

Mike says:

> The architecture of products we use
> year in/year out tend to evolve from the experiments of individual
> craftpeople rather than being handed down by the Intelligent Designer.

Reminds me of an excellent book I read not that long ago.  "Software 
Craftsmanship" by Pete McBreen.  

Here are some comments about the book from an esteemed colleague of 
mine, Rick Schwartz:

> I'm a little more than half way through the book. I'm probably going to
> throw my neck out from shaking it so much. I shake my head in disgust at
> what our industry has become. Most people don't get this, and as I navigate
> this job market it seems to be getting worse. Companies trying to tell me
> that my rate is too high. We'll see how much they pay in the
> end.
> 
 I was reading it before I went to bed last night, and then I woke
> up around 2a.m., sat bolt upright, and felt really mad about those bastards
> at [large financial company]. Our team could have made anyone successful, but they were way
> too short sided. Anyway, maybe it was a delayed reaction, or maybe the book
> articulated the situation to the degree that I now have the sense of tragedy
> regarding the waste of talent. I (we all) felt shafted, because we were
> destined to deliver something of real quality. The book just lays it all
> out.
> 
> In any case, its giving me pause about how I position myself in the market.
> I'm flogging myself as an architect, however what I've always preferred and
> coveted is the role of a programmer. It's just that our industry has
> devalued that role and embraced the Software Engineering myth. So it forces
> me to go after a role that tends to consider itself above programming, which
> as we know is back-ass-wards.
> 
> This book also validates my own career, and if anything gives me more
> confidence in my own philosophy, beliefs and decisions. This is one book I
> will take with me everywhere. I guess I'm destined to carry its message to
> others, pass the word as it were, and lend the book out one at a time,
> trying to make a difference.

Should be required reading for all in the software business, IMNSHO.

Available at Amazon of course.

Andrzej Jan Taramina
Chaeron Corporation: Enterprise System Solutions
http://www.chaeron.com

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