Job Responsibilities
In this position, I do everything from programming, to helping
architect solutions, to leading groups of developers and
managing their workloads. How much time I spend on each per day
varies from day to day. Over all, leading would be 60% with
programming and architecting 20% each.
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Uppers
I like the people I work with. 99.9% are great people and work together as a
team well.
Sometimes the work is interesting and challenging.
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Downers
Working more than 24 hours at a time.
Not getting to work with the technologies I want to work with.
Getting pigeon-holed.
The subject matter of the business holds no interest for me.
Being on-call.
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Lifestyle
Work hours can vary from 8 to over 24 in a day. A lot of times you have to work
over the weekends. You usually have to be on-call 24 hours a day.
Travel can be great depending on your level of knowledge and the need for you to
interact with the customer.
There really aren't any social events.
Dress code is business casual.
We have people from many different backgrounds.
With all of the off-shoring going on, you MUST have a unique skill and be tops
in your field in it in order to stay employed. Or, move into project management.
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Compensation
Base salary is 62K.
Bonus is almost non-existent. It has about 5 years since I have
seen one.
Stock options are no more and benefits have been trimmed to the
bare basics.
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Advice to Jobseekers
Think about the software world as a short term proposition or a
stepping stone to other possibilities. Off-shoring is killing
the American programmer in big-business. Smaller shops will hold
out longer though.
Keep up with the latest and greatest of technology and do not
stick with one company unless you really, really love it and
want to retire from the company. Even then, keep you resume
updated at all times and keep a third eye out for fall back
positions out side of the company. Too many people thought they
were safe inside the monolith they worked for, only to find out
they were dead wrong.
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