Dear John…

My letter to the tech industry (John, in this case).

Dear John,

I have great news!

We shall be together again!

I have been accepted at the Makers Academy. I start in February and will be finished by the end of April. I am hoping that I can cope and that we will be reunited by the Summer.

Yours, as always,

Kate

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Dear John,

The course is difficult but I have learnt so much. I have wistful moments when the paradigms we shared come flooding back.

I didn’t realise how much I have missed you and am looking forward, more than ever before, to being back where we both know I belong.

I hope that you haven’t changed much and we can pick up where we left off all of those years ago.

Yours, as always,

Kate

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Dear John,

I am half way through the course. These weeks have been hard, the journey has been challenging. Some things are the same, but others seem to have changed beyond all recognition.

There appears to be a much more collaborative approach that, you will be relieved to know, I find quite vulgar. I am determined to stick to my guns and am refusing to be fully engaged.

You will be amused to hear that some nonsense about writing tests first seems to be ridiculously popular. Quite frankly, how will anyone ever know that I write the tests in retrospect? A far more sensible approach, I’m sure that you agree.

We have the group projects next week, I am intending to stand my ground and will resist all attempts to be involved in any new fangled foolishness. I am confident that the merits of my traditional approach will obvious and perhaps I will be able to change things back for the better.

I am so looking forward to seeing you soon so that we can do things properly!

Yours, as always,

Kate

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Dear John,

I have troubling news. I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me, but despite myself I thoroughly enjoyed the group work.

We were in small teams, we wrote funny little tickets and worked on them in pairs. We met up at least twice daily to discuss progress. I got quite beside myself, even started asking how everyone was feeling just after breakfast. I really have no idea what came over me.

At one point I really got quite carried away after a minor win, and even ‘high-fived’ the person I was working with . My companion was a young lady, but still, I hardly recognised myself.

Despite my best efforts, I have become very relaxed and productive. I received some rather splendid feedback from a younger member of the team, precisely on this subject. Obviously, he is much younger so I am taking it all with a pinch of salt!

I have three weeks left to compose myself and regain my dignity. Do wish me luck, I feel that as soon as I have finished and we are reunited, this nonsense will be a distant memory.

Yours, as always,

Kate

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Dear John,

I have terrible news. I fear that I may have succumbed to some sort of modern ailment that is affecting my mind. I have started to prefer the new ways.

We are on the second of three group projects and the teams are much happier than I ever remember teams being before. In fact, quite jolly at points!

We whizz through the tickets, mentioned in my earlier missive, and we even shared a luncheon on the last project day.

I fear that unless you too have changed, we may have grown apart.

Yours, as always,

Kate

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Dear John,

We need to talk…

Yours, as always,

Kate

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This blog post was inspired by a member of the Makers Careers team asking what I wanted in my new job. What I realised was that, although I came back into tech because I enjoyed it the first time around. There were massive shortcomings in the way that things were done back then. These ‘new fangled practices’ address these issues in a very effective way.

I now know that I can’t go back to the job I had before, even if it does still exist!