For the past 2 and a half years I worked at Amazon.com. It was fun for the first year – so many old assumptions and prejudices shattered. But Amazon is a special case. For most normal sized systems, my old design sense was pretty solid.
Still, it was a horizon broadening experience and I enjoyed that. I managed teams of people and we built software and I liked that as a change from the endless parade of crummy short term java contracts I was getting.
But I left last month. I joined as something of a new manager. My pay grade was commensurate with my lack of experience in that area. But eventually I grew weary of it and was itching to get back to doing nifty code if I could find a way to do it on my terms. Which means dynamic expressive languages and I get creative control of the technology. No “You’re the architect – so you’ll use this language and that vendor’s solution”. Huh, I thought I was the architect.
The other main driver to leave is no work/life balance. This isn’t Amazon specific. This is US company specfific. In the US, if you work for an established company, this is just how it is. You get 2, maybe 3 weeks of vacation and a few holidays here and there. You are expected to put in 50 hours a week. With ever rising property values and congested highways, you have to live about an hour away from work, meaning you lose 2 unbillable hours a day just travelling to work. You’re working your butt off, but you can’t enjoy the fruits of your labor.
I lived in France for about half a year. I’ve seen how Europeans live. They take 5-6 weeks of paid vacation. They can take long leaves of absence. They are able to travel the world. In the US, you can’t get enough days off to drive across the country, much less travel abroad. No wonder we are such an ignorant xenophobic lot.
I have a boat. I’d like to take the boat in the summer and explore Puget Sound, where I live. I’ll need about 4 contiguous weeks to do it. I couldn’t get the time off. Why have a boat if I can’t take the time to enjoy it?
I have friends abroad. I can never get the time to go see them. I have the money. Just not the time. Again, this is lame. So I walked. I give up on work camp America. US companies say they can’t find qualified workers. We’re around. But your terms stink. Improve them or go pound sand.
I left the big company to work for myself. I build software using tools I like. Unconventional, but productive and low-cost tools like Squeak and Seaside. I use other things too, depending on requirements. I work when I want to, from anywhere I like.
I think this is the future as more and more of my colleagues are opting for this kind of situation. The big company life holds no attraction for the seasoned employee.