I have been working in the field of computing since the age of 18. Like other dedicated IT professionals over that time I’ve been exposed to many applications, platforms and systems. Some of them I’ve actually found enjoyable to use, not all, but some. Maybe it’s just rose-tinted spectacles, but I’m sure I found Novell Netware 3.1x great fun to setup and administer. I also used to quite enjoy (in a perverse kind of way) fighting with DOS config.sys and autoexec.bat to maximise the memory available to applications whilst booting a usable system. More recently I’ve found Linux really good fun to use. I thoroughly enjoy using and administering it. Maybe my view is distorted because I’m still learning so much about it, and there’s heaps left still to learn.
A large part (9+years) of my career has been spent specialising in one companys products, that company being SAP. I started experiencing it when I was working in desktop support where I only really ever installed the client application. When I worked for an IT outsourcing company I saw SAP at a customer site and thought it looked interesting – more interesting than supporting laptops anyway. I asked the boss there for a job and the rest is history really. I’ve attended and taught courses for SAP themselves all round Europe, worked on large blue-chip FTSE-100 customer sites and a lot of it has been great fun. It’s certainly kept the wolf from the door!
More recently I’ve been getting bored of it though. I just don’t find SAP interesting anymore, and I’ll be honest I haven’t for a few years now. I suspect part of that is a lack of exposure to the really new stuff as most of my customers use the bread-and-butter products I’ve looked after for nearly 10 years now. Part also could be down to overexposure. Maybe 10 years is just too long to be focused on one field, one vendor, one application even (ok, the SAP portfolio consists of a boat-load of applications, but many are very similar to look after technically). What I do find rewarding is the training – which currently I no longer do. When I am at a customer where they have SAP technical staff I really enjoy passing on my wealth of experience to them. I’m not saying “I like that I know more than them”, but I really enjoy seeing other people learning, gaining experience and knowledge to further themselves. I’ve met consultants in the past who have been quite the opposite. They wouldn’t impart any skills to colleagues as they might turn out to be the competition for a contract in the future.
I am certain the world doesn’t work that way. In fact when I was interviewed by my current customer the person I was taken on to replace knew me through my teaching for SAP. The first thing said to me by the interviewer was “Hello, I don’t need to ask you any technical questions because Dave here tells me you know it all already”. That’s a great thing for someone to say to you in an interview, let me tell you! Of course it’s not true, I’ve learned on this contract almost as much as I’ve passed on to the other guys. But as far as I’m concerned it does go to show that there is something to be said for being good at passing on information to other people. Ok, I was being paid for giving training when I taught Dave all those years ago, but I still think the argument holds.
So I’ve decided it’s time to do other stuff. I actually decided this over 18 months ago and put the wheels in motion to make it happen. I quit my job for a consulting company that had helped me to get where I am today, and started my own, which I now work for. I looked for and found contracts in the SAP arena to finance what I really wanted to do with my time. When I first told my accountant that I wanted to quit permanent employment and start my own consulting company to move away from SAP he laughed. He told me I’d never make the break because I’m too comfortable in SAP, and until the “other stuff” pays well I’ll never leave the cosy confines of what I know well. He’s right of course. I have spent the last 18 months doing SAP as en (evil) contractor for some big name companies where I’ve actually enjoyed myself, but ultimately I’m getting frustrated.
In fact it was a mailing list posting to the Hampshire Linux User Group about two years ago that really made me take stock and think about these things. Someone said that they didn’t like using Windows at work whereupon someone else suggested that they should change things. I put forward the notion that people use Windows at work because they *have* to, they are forced to by company policy or IT strategy (or both). Keith Edmunds replied that he believed people *did* in fact have a choice, a choice to not work for someone who makes them use Windows. This thought rang in my head for some days after initially reading it. I went back and re-read it a few times. “How rude” I thought, “How does he know what my circumstances are!?”, “How can he know whether it’s even possible to work for a company where Windows isn’t the OS of choice”, and so on. Then I sat back and thought that of course it’s possible to work for a company which uses Linux on the desktop, if it’s your company!
So here I am on the train on the way home from one of my customers typing this on my low-spec HP laptop which currently runs the development branch of Ubuntu Linux – called Edgy Eft – soon to be released as version 6.10. It’s my laptop, my own laptop. Nobody tells me what to run on it, that’s my decision. I also have a corporate laptop and desktop, both of which also run Ubuntu Linux very nicely. Clare also has a PC which runs Ubuntu Linux. We just don’t need Windows in our company.
I haven’t completed my journey yet, but I feel happier already. I have started doing the things I like, the things I really enjoy doing. I attended FOSDEM in Brussels two years running and this year attended LUGRadio Live. Last year I started helping with the running of LUG.org.uk (UK Linux User Groups) including helping to pay some of the cost of hosting the server that hosts most UK LUGs. Last month I spent a day in London with Greater London LUG to promote the use of Free software on Software Freedom Day. Later this month I’ll be helping out at LinuxWorld Expo at Londons Olympia 2. Taking time out from “work” to attend these kinds of functions to meet members of the Open Source community, hear about new products and become an active member of the community are all things I really enjoy doing. I know many people don’t have the time, inclination or the financial resources to do this, of course I’m lucky that right now I do, and long may it continue, because I love it.
I’m also lucky to have a fantastic family supporting me through these changes in our lives. Clare was very accommodating in letting me go to London for Software Freedom Day when she’d given birth to our second child only a week previously. Her parents are understanding when I spend an hour telling them why I *have* to go to Southampton and give a talk about some open source program or project. Sophie does her bit, she loves Potato Guy.
I plan to take some time out later this year to further develop my Open Source plans for world domination (Mwahahahahaaaa!) but for now I’m content running Linux everywhere I can, with my long term goal at the back of my mind. I’m getting there.
One Comment
Excellent article/blog.
Provided a lot of food for thought, especially as i normally get on the train in an evening and fall fast asleep..!