New work situation is interesting.

Recently, I stepped down as a Director/Manager guy and returned to writing software for a living. Many folks have made this yo-yo journey into management and back out. I think, however, the difference in my case is that I actually enjoyed both. I really thought I could do them at the same time, too. It seemed to be working. But, my employer had other ideas and pretty much forced me to decide one way or the other. So now I just develop the software systems, mostly off-site. I'm certain that wasn't the outcome that my employer was really looking for, and I'm a little confused about what exactly went down, but the funny part is how great it worked out for me. Now I can concentrate on the project that is being developed. All the hours I bill are productive hours. I no longer waste 20 hours a week and huge financial resources driving to Denver. I have quadrupled my development velocity and that's no joke. Of course, using Ruby & Rails helps, but nothing beats that sweet but elusive 6 hour block of uniterrupted concentration. That's really what I've regained and it's power is great. You don't get that when you're onsite, trying to put out fires, fix phone systems, do budgets, make schedules, track bugs, schedule iterations, appease fearful software customers, do Windows desktop support, move people's PCs around, unjam printers, do inventory, manage vendors, manage, review and develop employees, speak to the Board of Governors, and whatever the hell else comes in to ruin your day. Still, I thought it was going OK. I just wanted to be able to write software at home at night without being punished for it. My employer couldn't see it that way for some reason. Now it's all I do, along with the occasional job interview or business development work, and I'm not really making any less money. There's a lot going on in the job market and there seems to be lots of clients out there who are interested. There's a palpable buzz in the software engineering industry again. I don't think a lot of the current buzzwords capture it - web 2.0, etc. , but there is a something-ness to it all. There is the very real feeling that killer apps are being worked on in darkened rooms around the world... waiting to be sprung. I can't wait to see them and don't think I'm not working on a thing or two myself for 2006 ;-). I think 2006 is really going to cook!