Oxford life. Thirtysomething challenges. Music leanings. Anything really.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
September 1996
In September 1996 I spat out of the university system, aged 24. 24? Yeah, I'd taken my time getting round to the real world.
And from the life of a student to the life of a software engineer, at the Microsoft of the education world, RM.
A great job, in a friendly company, I got to work on groovy primary school computers, doing my little nerdy thing for the good of the world.
Five years later, I left, having gotten tired of working for The Man. RM's a great company, but it's too big for me - I couldn't reconcile the corner cutting and margin maximising approaches that a company in debt to shareholders had to make. Off I went in pursuit of other careers. And some travelling.
September 2005. I am back at RM, working on the same product I worked on in 1996. It used to be Windows 95, now it's Windows XP, but lots of the stuff is pretty much the same.
It's actually the third time I have been back as a contractor to RM. And you know what? It's not bad as a contractor. The people are still the same, the atmosphere's the same. But, I'm a contractor. And being in that position, I don't have to deal with any politics. I just get on with my stuff. It gives me the best of both worlds.
And from the life of a student to the life of a software engineer, at the Microsoft of the education world, RM.
A great job, in a friendly company, I got to work on groovy primary school computers, doing my little nerdy thing for the good of the world.
Five years later, I left, having gotten tired of working for The Man. RM's a great company, but it's too big for me - I couldn't reconcile the corner cutting and margin maximising approaches that a company in debt to shareholders had to make. Off I went in pursuit of other careers. And some travelling.
September 2005. I am back at RM, working on the same product I worked on in 1996. It used to be Windows 95, now it's Windows XP, but lots of the stuff is pretty much the same.
It's actually the third time I have been back as a contractor to RM. And you know what? It's not bad as a contractor. The people are still the same, the atmosphere's the same. But, I'm a contractor. And being in that position, I don't have to deal with any politics. I just get on with my stuff. It gives me the best of both worlds.
// posted by Andy @ 9:37 pm 
