My CS 404 Thoughts

Today's press conference highlighted some very distinct memories and experiences for me. In the early spring of 2002, I started selling stuff on Ebay and quickly turned that into my major source of income since the company I was working for (partly owned by my brother) was going out of business. A week later one of my brother's partners offered me a job in another company he owned. The very next week he left on a family vacation to Europe and, much to my surprise, he left me in charge of the other 4 employees and our relationships with the companies we contracted with. For the next 2 weeks while he was gone I worked very hard to hold everything together. When Steve (my boss) returned from Europe he pulled me aside one day and told me he wanted to make me the office/business manager and basically double my salary. For the next several months I worked long hours, sometimes 70 or 80 per week, to keep everything running smoothly. Then two things happened that bring me to the issue of personal and professional ethics. First, things on the Internet started to change in a way that made it increasingly difficult for a small, individually run business (99% of our clients) to establish a presence for their business online. Second, I met and began dating the girl who would become my wife. Professionally, I had a major problem with the fact that the salespeople were still telling the people they referred to us that they could in essence get something for nothing and make loads of money almost instantly with our help. Personally, I no longer had the desire to work 80 hours per week because I wanted to spend time with Nicole. Both of these things eventually led to me leaving the company. Having had that experience makes me concerned with the perception of programmers working around the clock. I am more than willing to put in a full work week of 40 hours and to work hard during that time, but my family is now a major priority in my life and as much as I have an ethical obligation to my employer, I have a personal obligation to spend time with my family.