Hey everyone,
Ever got that one thing that just needs to get done ASAP? Especially over the weekend?
You got a call to make sure that things will get done, and that you have your tasks. Check.
I’m pretty sure that most of us have a computer to work with. So for the most part, check.
Internet connection and other means of communication (e.g. Slack, Skype). Check.
Coming back to your computer with maybe that IDE you hardly use at home but do at work. Oops!
Why the oops? You find that the IDE loads up your project just fine as soon as you start it, but on the other hand, you have a compilation error. Well therein lies the problem. Your updated project file doesn’t work with the IDE you have anymore, unless you’ve made some changes that’ll configure it back the the old way, yeah, you don’t want that….
I remember a previous colleague telling me something along the lines of “these things change all the time!” Yep, we do keep records of most things, but there are other things that we may forget sometimes. That’s just human nature, so unfortunately, we have to live with it most of the time.
Or do we?
My father told me a couple of times when I was learning to drive “always expect the unexpected.” Along with driving, we all encounter other drivers who are aggressive on their lane changes, or sometimes there are drivers who don’t signal and make the lane change. Most of the time, we just live with it and let on.
To expect the unexpected could be done in the programming world also. We all think through possible issues we can encounter and do our best to avoid them. Therefore, talking code is easy. However, let’s go back to that IDE issue we’re having, and that we have an emergency…
Although we usually don’t work weekends, we should always make it a habit to expect that we might do so. Therefore, we should double-check our lists at the end of each week, usually being Fridays (as far as I know, Saturdays for Russia as they have 6 workdays in a week), and see if we might need to make updates. Afterwards, we should test our application again to make sure everything is working as intended. Therefore, the lessons are:
Be aware that in tech, things change all the time.
Always expect the unexpected.
Check everything is smooth in order to begin your work.
Until next time,
Brian.