An Epic saga...

I'm three weeks into my new job at Greenhouse, and all is going well. I've finally got some programming to do, in the form of a small report submissions tool for the DFES. It's good to be doing useful work again, after an initial 6 days of Research & Development into tools and methodologies for Greenhouse, I was starting to feel like I wanted to do something useful! It's been an odd few weeks, after a gentle wind-down at Epic, then a gentle easing-in period at Greenhouse, I really feel like I'm ready to do some hardcore coding.

My R&D work has been useful on a number of counts, because we now have two working SubVersion servers, I've upgraded the RAM in the main development server, the whole team are up to speed with SCRUM, we're evaulating Google Calendar, and we've got a working installation of Liberum (an open-source issue tracking system). We're planning to use SCRUM from next week onwards, and I must remember to buy a large pin-board for our task cards :)

It came as no surprise (to me anyway) to hear that my former employer, Epic, have laid off 12 members of staff, in a cost-cutting exercise. It's been a very poor year for Epic financially, and they've been leaking senior staff at an alarming rate. Surprisingly, the 12 people chosen for the axe, were all senior members of staff - some with over 10 years' service - which suggests the move was as much about reducing the wage bill, as it was about reducing numbers, to make the company a more attractive prospect for potential buyers. With a pay freeze in place for the next year, it's likely that they will continue to lose staff, and will eventually end up with the majority of their staff being under the age of 30 - or even more likely, under the age of 25. Epic are a good company to work for if you're starting a career in I.T. but once you get to a certain level of competence, you're bashing your head against the ceiling. The support structures and incentives simply aren't there to make a long-term career worthwhile, so my advice to any current employees reading this, is to stay for two or three years, then move on to somewhere more forward-thinking and nurturing.
The downside for Epic, of course, is that junior staff will have a long lead-in period, during which the quality of their work generally won't match that of the senior staff who have left. This was already feeding through to clients when I left, with rising numbers of software bugs and client complaints. However, there is a large and well-paid management team at Epic, and it's something for them to 'manage'. I wish them luck :)

Source control with Subversion

After eight years of using the much maligned Microsoft SourceSafe, I've been investigating the allegedly superior open-source "Subversion" alternative. I'd spent many hours wading through the user-unfriendly, *nix-based documentation on the Subversion site, and had got nowhere after downloading several vendor-specific flavours of this supposedly fantastic software.

Massive respect, then, to Chris McGlothen, who has posted this fantastic article on setting up Subversion on Windows 2003. Thanks to Chris's article, I've got a working Subversion server, nicely integrated with my desktop PC courtesy of the Tortoise SVN client. If only all user manuals could be so well written! The only caveat is step 6 - uninstalling the SVN service - I'm really not sure why he put that step in, as you need the service in order to make use of the software!

The Tyranny of "stuff"

I don't know about you, but I'm convinced that life used to be simpler. Right now, I'm pushed for time - I'm getting up early, working at my new job (which is great - Greenhouse really have lived up to expectations), getting home in the dark, going out most evenings (not many all-night raves or lock-ins these days)... repeat til bored. That'll take a while.

The bits in-between this routine, are spent tinkering with the random "stuff" that I've managed to acquire through being alive, and having enough money to pay for them.

What am I talking about? Pretty much anything you can buy in a shop:

- Computers: they're always going wrong. Then they wear out. Then you have to buy or build a new one, and figure out a way of getting all your data and software onto it. Then configure it, go "oooooh" at how fast it is, then spend time thinking about what to use it for.

- Hi-fi: They need cleaning, they need extended warranties, vibration-proof racks, cable tidies, upgrades, gold-plated cables. Didn't it all used to come in one box?

- Mobile phones: ringtones, downloads, upgrades, special offers, battery chargers, carry cases, fiddling around mis-typing text messages, worrying if you're out of range, wondering if you can hear the damn thing ringing in your winter coat.

- Kitchens: extended warranties on the oven, hob, fridge, freezer, toaster, microwave and kettle? Non, merci.

- Cars: time to get it serviced AGAIN? Has that tax disc gone up since last year? The AA are charging WHAT?? Is my fuel consumption okay? Will it start in this cold weather? Which garage is selling petrol for under £1?

- Websites: I'll just check my email. And the other email. And my Gmail. And Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, the forums, the BBC site, my Flickr feed, and some other thing I've forgotten the username and password for.

And finally, there's Christmas: planning for all of the above, only for other people. *Cue evil grin.*
I could go on, but you see what I'm getting at? We're slaves to our material possessions. I'm starting to wish I lived in a cave, with just a fire and a spear for company. But no doubt someone would try to sell me insurance and a 3-year extended warranty.

So, excuse me if I'm a little late in replying to your emails (I had 55 in my inbox yesterday), but I'm busy with *stuff*. I'll let you know when it's all taken care of!

Pete.