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+Document: WM-041                                                 P. Webb
+Category: Career                                              2019.09.24
+
+                   A decade in tech: a retrospective
+
+Abstract
+
+   Startups are hard, respect is easy
+
+Body
+
+   1. The Beginning
+
+      I got my start in the web/tech space over a decade ago, during the
+      economic recession of 2008.
+
+      Two years prior I was in college for a couple months until Johnson
+      & Wales' campus police called to let me know I'd need to leave by
+      the end of the week. Unbeknownst to me the college fund that was
+      *allegedly* prepared for me never existed (!!) and the funny thing
+      about bounced checks is, *no one likes them*; especially an
+      institution that needs to pay its faculty. Anyhoo, in 2008 I was
+      tasked with "getting myself back into school" *somehow* and was
+      sent to the next town over from JWU to start.
+
+      My landlord, a portly self-deprecating guy with a glass eye and a
+      heart of friggin' *gold*, allowed me stay rent free as long as I
+      kept him up to date with my job search progress. In my downtime I
+      perused online communities like deviantART and Pixelfuckers
+      (defunct) and attempted to emulate what I saw in the awesome
+      desktop modding scene. That led to attempting vector art and boy,
+      this was frustrating as hell to learn. Photoshop's pen tool just
+      did not make sense at *all* and Illustrator was too strange. One
+      day…it clicked. I could do it!
+
+      📸[2nd Vector][IMG1][1]
+
+      Yes, revel in this *monstrosity*. Admire it. *Fear* it (the later
+      version[2]) of this looks *way* better).
+
+      At some point I was designing so much[3] that I decided I needed a
+      website, naturally. I mocked something in Photoshop and emailed a
+      PSD to HTML service to see how much it would cost to convert my
+      "super awesome" design to a website and I was quoted either $100
+      or $500. Whichever amount it was, I was *incensed*. Furious, even.
+      Couldn't they see I was trying to start something? Why would they
+      charge me so much? The au*dacity* of these people!
+
+      In my anger, I learned how to code my first website[FOOT1].
+
+      Yes. I was petulant and figured it out because I was misguided in
+      my anger at someone/some people trying to run a business in a
+      recession. It sounds quite silly in hindsight but, there you
+      have it.
+
+      At that point I also understood that web design and development is
+      not something easily done *correctly*. Doesn't it make sense why
+      someone would charge to do it for you? Armed with this newfound
+      knowledge I dove into the Internet head first and scoured it for
+      web development tips. Often, these tips came from horribly
+      designed websites 🥴. Indeed there was a time before Envato and
+      their Tuts+ tutorial sites burst onto the scene.
+
+   2. I Made It
+
+      Sometime in 2012 I was working retail and applying for web
+      design/development roles I was *definitely* not suited for but
+      YOLO (pretty sure YOLO wasn't said then but y'know, same energy)!
+      Just fire and forget, leave for work, come back home and check
+      email. One day I got a response back from thoughtbot[4], a
+      design/development agency in Downtown Crossing (Boston)! One of
+      the co-founders wanted me to come in and interview for their
+      apprenticeship program. Elated, I made the trek downtown with my
+      heavy laptop and couldn't wait to show off my work.
+
+      My elation disappated when Chad Mazolla[5] said (paraphrasing, too
+      long ago):
+
+      > Your code is terrible…but your design is good. Great, even! We
+      > need more stuff like this on the Internet.
+
+      And with that, I was in! The program lasted a few short months and
+      while I was the only one who wasn't offered a job through
+      thoughtbot or their partner companies afterward, I will say that
+      it was the best experience I could have had at that point in my
+      life. If nothing else, I finally had something I could put on my
+      non-retail resume!
+
+      Over the next couple years I would go on to do contract jobs and
+      later work for startup after startup after startup. I've worked
+      for a "regular" company here and there but end up going back to
+      startups. Even though they come with uncertainty[FOOT2], they are
+      often working on challenging ideas and projects that can change
+      some aspect of the world in interesting ways. I'm drawn to that. I
+      also love learning how to do things I either don't feel like
+      learning on my own time or never thought about learning. *The best
+      teacher is experience so why not *get paid* to do it?* This allows
+      you to initiate ambitious side projects solo instead of
+      waiting/relying on someone else to get an MVP running.
+
+      Perhaps more important than the technical skills acquired, I
+      learned how *not* to treat people. Sometimes this was an
+      analysis[6] of *my own behavior* but more often than not the
+      actions of *leadership* exemplified this.
+
+   3. Scenarios
+
+      The following scenarios are situations I've been on the receiving
+      end of.
+
+      - You're an apprentice and a developer mentoring someone else in
+        the program regularly talks over you and pumps up his apprentice
+        whenever he can. Maybe his disdain for you is because you're
+        self-taught or was personally invited by the co-CEO to join the
+        program. Or maybe the developer didn't like you having regular
+        conversation with the (female) office manager. You're new, you
+        just want to absorb information from everywhere.
+        - You learn many years later that this same developer also
+          treated prospective clients quite rudely.
+
+      - CEO picks his nose and makes eye contact with you. This happens
+        enough that you learn how to have a blind spot whenever you turn
+        your head and see him in your peripheral vision.
+
+      - As a contractor, you end up doing the job of the guy you're
+        reporting under while he browses Joystiq[7] for gaming news. You
+        are later fired and realize he threw you under the bus for his
+        work not getting done. *Many* years later you see him in a
+        Target department store and after recognizing you he discovers a
+        sudden interest in ceiling architecture.
+
+      - As you're dealing with the excrutiating sorrow of miscarriage,
+        the CEO puts you on a dubious "project" for his father's
+        company. A week or two later you're in a firing meeting, sans
+        CEO. In the minutes following the firing you look around for the
+        CEO to have a conversation with him but he's nowhere to be
+        found, even though you just saw him five minutes prior.
+
+      - CEO constantly lies to you and your coworkers about the health
+        of the company and surprises y'all a week or so from Christmas
+        *on pay day* with "Hey, sorry, we can't pay you" phone call.
+        Money eventually shows up but this happens at least once more
+        before the company folds.
+
+      - CEO loves your work and mindset and tasks you with unleashing
+        your creativity on core properties. Then come caveats. You
+        create something cool, you guess, with caveats because core
+        users would be "confused" by drastic changes. A month or so
+        later, CEO okays a developer *not* hired for their design
+        sensibilities to drastically redesign the core product. CEO
+        reiterates your importance while restricting your expression.
+
+      - You notice there's someone on the platform you are helping
+        develop who has advocated for harm and negative energy towards
+        people who share your creed/likeness/ethnicity. You get on a
+        call with the CEO and he not only downplays the matter but he
+        disregards how you feel about it. He also claims
+        organizations like SPLC[8] are disengenous and
+        blow things out of proportion.
+
+      These scenarios are situations I've witnessed and/or stepped in to
+      defend/protect.
+
+      - Designers wrack their brains over new features and present to UX
+        lead for her expert opinion. Idea gets shut down due to claim by
+        lead over "impossible"[FOOT3] claims.
+        - I walk by and overhear the designers speaking amongst
+          themselves, bummed about yet another idea that *seems*
+          feasible but apparently "isn't".
+        - I create a branch and implement their idea in ~10 minutes.
+          Designers are happy, UX lead is not.
+        - To be clear, this doesn't add extra work for anyone but me.
+
+      - Back-end engineers who want something done on the front-end
+        approach UX lead. "Too much work", "not worth it", "impossible",
+        and so on is claimed.
+        - I'm present during this conversation and rattle off similar
+          experiences I've had in my personal projects that relate.
+        - Developers are happy, UX lead is not.
+        - No extra work for anyone but me and it's not an
+          obscene amount.
+
+      - At an annual all-hands event, CTO speaks about how he learned
+        the importance of listening from a leadership course he's been
+        taking. 10 minutes later, CEO blames entire company (and himself
+        but not really) for our lack of innovation leading to the
+        then-(still?)negative status of the company while the CTO stares
+        at the ground in deep thought.
+        - A developer protests accusation and mentions several instances
+          where he tried to provide input, only to be shut down by CEO.
+        - Conversation turns into a shouting match.
+        - Other developers jump in to co-sign the initial protest.
+        - You later learn that some developers at the company ignore the
+          CEO and pursue things *they* know they need to work on.
+
+      - Marketing team repeatedly express frustration with lack of
+        non-developer-friendly tooling for things like updating the
+        company blog, sending email blasts, and so on. CEO is a
+        technical developer and regularly dismisses them, starting
+        sentences with things like "It's so easy" and "All you have to
+        do is…c'mon, it's not so bad."
+        - I don't have much to do so I offer to improve some aspects of
+          their job. After initial pushback I'm begrungingly allowed to
+          do so.
+        - Two days later, I'm tasked with going about this process with
+          caveats (and throwing away substantial work in the process).
+
+      - CEO has something negative to say about anyone who quits. "He
+        wasn't that great anyway" and things like that, often on
+        conference calls.
+
+      These are all the scenarios I could list off the top of my head.
+      I'm a positive person by nature so this was an uncomfortable walk
+      down Memory Lane.
+
+      For people in the web/tech space, the aforementioned scenarios are
+      quite common. Heck, I'm quite sure they echo what happened *today*
+      somewhere…and you witnessed it. A common thread that links the
+      leadership mentioned (aside from the CTO) is apathy; a complete
+      lack of empathy, social understanding/awareness, or just *care*.
+      In the comment about my self analysis earlier, I linked a blog
+      post where I realized I put my ego before the team I was hired to
+      work with. I was, quite frankly, a jackass[FOOT4] and there's no
+      room for one unless you work at a zoo. Self-reflection is a useful
+      tool you should pull out every now and then and as you can
+      probably tell, most people don't utilize it.
+
+   4. Software is hard, relationships are easy
+
+      > If you don't build your dream, someone will hire you to help
+      > build theirs.
+      > — Tony Gaskin
+
+      I reflect upon this quote often as I help people build their
+      dreams (startups) while also building my own[9]. I do believe
+      there's been a sea change in the industry around employee
+      happiness and retention. Have a look at job postings and you will
+      see work satisfaction and happiness as a perk.
+
+      No one wants to work in a hostile environment and after a while,
+      people realize they don't have to put up with bullshit and they
+      quit (or are fired before they get the chance, lol). To echo the
+      tone of Gaskin's quote but modified for business leadership:
+
+      > In order to build your dream, hire the best people and treat
+      > them like family.
+
+      Assuming you have a great family or a close cadre of friends you
+      regard as family, would you treat them like the aforementioned
+      leaders have? Probably not. It's really not that difficult to be a
+      decent person.
+
+      One of my closest friends is in a coding bootcamp and shares his
+      works in progress with me and another close friend on a regular
+      basis. I'm the most technical of us but what sense would it make
+      for me to downplay his efforts? What would I gain from that? It's
+      my responsibility to assist in his professional development
+      because I have the means to and I consider him family.
+
+      A decade is a long time and software and startups come and go.
+      Even people do. Memories, do not (I mean, aside from
+      cognitive disorders).
+
+      You remember the developer that treated me like shit during my
+      apprenticeship? His name came up in an interview I had two years
+      ago via my interviewer, half a decade later! Therefore, it is
+      *imperitive* that you treat people how you would like to be
+      treated, your reputation could precede you whether it's positive
+      or not.
+
+      No matter what life-changing product you embark on or assist with
+      creating, you will get there a helluva lot faster surrounded by
+      people who respect you and vice-versa. If you've forgotten about
+      the Golden Rule, here's a handy refresher[10]. 🕸
+
+References
+
+   [FOOT1] My first domain name was `pw-software.com` (it now redirects
+           to `webb.page`). Back in the early 2010s, I blogged about
+           design and redesigned my site at least three times a year.
+           It was the *hottest* of messes. Back then I used Google and
+           regularly searched for "PW Software" to check my search
+           ranking. For a while, a company called "P+W Software" was the
+           first result. The constant linking of my website to Facebook
+           and deviantART improved SEO so much that I soon took the
+           number one spot. P+W Software was later acquired[11] by
+           another company. When ICANN released the `.page` TLD I was
+           absolutely *required* to obtain what's probably the nicest
+           domain on the planet and make it my new default home on
+           the Internet.
+
+   [FOOT2] All but two startups I've worked for no longer exist. The
+           first one was acquired but I was seasonal help and thus was
+           too far gone to delight in their success. The second one
+           seems like it's not doing too well behind the scenes.
+
+   [FOOT3] A word I hate more than almost anything (the taste of
+           asparagus will be difficult to unseat) is "impossible" and to
+           hear professionals in the web/tech space use this word so
+           casually is *frustrating*. We literally have supercomputers
+           in our pockets to share *memes* but it's "impossible" to make
+           text with a drop shadow expand across the screen before
+           flipping into an explosion of color with emoji rain.
+           *Impossible is not a word, it's an excuse.*
+
+   [FOOT4] I really wanted to underscore how much of a jackass I was
+           prior to that post being published but was advised against it
+           by leadership. This most likely had something to do with
+           editorial voice of the company but few words exist to
+           exemplify negative behavior with such conciseness.
+
+   [1]    <https://www.deviantart.com/nokadota/art/2nd-Vector-72286668>
+   [2]    <https://www.deviantart.com/nokadota/art/Above-The-Clouds-71695497>
+   [3]    <https://www.deviantart.com/nokadota/gallery>
+   [4]    <https://thoughtbot.com>
+   [5]    <https://chad.is>
+   [6]    <https://2016.dsgn.io/thoughts/post/the-importance-of-process>
+   [7]    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joystiq>
+   [8]    <https://www.splcenter.org>
+   [9]    <https://socii.network>
+   [10]   <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule>
+   [11]   <https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/press-release/consumer-health-technologies-inc-acquires-pw-software>
+   [IMG1] <https://🔥.pixels.wtf/blog/image/2019/a-decade-in-tech-a.png>