Programmers expect to make transitions every few years throughout their career. How do you adapt to these situations in a polite, professional, and productive manner? This chapter discusses four rules of engagement that you need to know.
Back when I went into information technology, we programmers rarely had to exercise our adaptability genes. We actually wanted to keep a good job as long as we could.
It took twenty-one years before I left IBM, the company I joined right out of college ”the job I assumed would be a lifetime post. And the transition was jarring. I went from a corporation with 300,000 employees , legendary decorum, vast financial resources, and world-class procedures to a software startup housed in a corner of a factory in a crime-ridden section of Philadelphia. It had a payroll of six, barely enough income to pay our salaries, an unruly staff, and ”since there were no company standards or procedures ”wonderful creative freedom.
These days, programmers expect to make transitions like that every-few years throughout their career. How do you adapt to these situations in a polite, professional, and productive manner? You follow the A s of good behavior.