Well folks, I’ve finally started to be a profit center for the company. Actually, let me rephrase that. I’ve finally started to be a revenue center for the company. I have 2 full months of nothingness that I must generate revenue to offset before I can become a profit center. So I did start at the beginning of this week. The project has a fairly simple web front end and middle tiers with a rather convoluted data provisioning model at the back end. I won’t be posting any specifics about the project (geek - user confidentiality), but it is safe to say that the back end complexity not only derives from the data provisioning, but also an older version of DB2 running on OS/Z. Even with this, it should be a fun project. The rest of the team seem like decent people although we are currently a little light in the technical areas.
I’ve started out by writing some detailed technical design docs for specific components of the UI which is a big change for me. My previous experiences all have had detailed specs done after the fact. Those are easy to write (crack the code and write pseudo (that’s seude-o for AF in North Van) code) and have never made me think more than “When will this be over?”. As of today I don’t even have the Visual Studio IDE available to me, so this is turning into a pen and paper design fest. Luckily the UI is fairly simple, there are fabulous business spec documents for the UI and there is a nice looking prototype UI. But at least I’m not getting specs that are formatted in the form of questions (god I’m glad I left the last job!).
To top off all this excitement, I’m going to be moving to a new residence at the end of the month. The great thing is that it happens to be about 3 to 4 blocks from where I’m working. Heck I can even see my apartment building from my office window. It was duly noted by an ardent Notes proponent, that that means I will also be able to see where I work from home. I’m pretty sure this IBM loving individual is incorrect though. I checked and could only see the building. My balcony was not visible. After the end of the month I will no longer have to get up at 6am to make it to work by 8. I will be able to sleep blissfully until close to 7 (and I’ll be home before 5!). Now if only I didn’t have to pack…..