A naukri.com initiative
Medium
1w
248
Image Credit: Medium
The Contracting Years: Distance, Solutions, and the Geographic Tuning Fork
- The article discusses the author's contracting experiences, starting with a 250-mile journey to work on a payroll system at Somerset County Council in 1998.
- The author later worked closer to home for Scottish Power, developing a parser to automate COBOL debugging files.
- He then engaged in a remote working setup, utilizing ISDN, telnet, and VMware for a Windows 2000 VM.
- Throughout the years, the author maintained a preference for simple, reliable tools like vi and Unix-based solutions.
- The author's contracting career involved oscillations from long-distance to local contracts, culminating in roles with government departments in Liverpool, Lytham, or Preston.
- Lessons learned included the importance of geographic optimization, the inevitability of remote work, and the value of boring skills like Unix tools and automation.
- The author highlighted the predictable failure modes of organizations that outsourced technical expertise and the impact of political risk on technical solutions.
- The article emphasizes being prepared for unexpected opportunities and how seemingly mundane periods can be essential preparation for future career shifts.
- The author's journey from contracting with COBOL to Linux system administration positions him well for the industry's technological shifts.
- Overall, the contracting years laid the foundation for the author's career pivot and underscored the importance of continuous learning and adaptation.
- The article concludes with a teaser for the next part, highlighting the author's transition into DevOps and how his skills became highly relevant in the industry.
Read Full Article
14 Likes
For uninterrupted reading, download the app