Once a coder

I have learnt how much I love coding. And how much I have missed it all these years.

Over the past few years, as I flitted between various roles, Project Manager, Business Support Manager, Service Delivery Manager, I moved further and further away from the technical line. I was doing presentations, writing documents, proposals, doing various administrative tasks, basically everything except some honest technical work. The one uniform thread across all of those roles was that my satisfaction with my work was very low. I don't think I am particularly cut out to be a good Manager.

Last year, when I took up a development project, I didn't expect much to change. Due to various resource limitations, I was forced to get involved in writing code. Luckily for me, it was Oracle and Unix, the stuff that I had cut my teeth on. I was a bit rusty, but once I got into the swing of things, I found that it was like I was never away. I really enjoyed it.

Over the past few months, I've reacquainted myself with technology. I've learnt a bit of C#, some Java and am developing J2ME applications and deploying them on my cell phone. What joy.

Come to think about it, I wouldn't mind getting full time into coding. But the way things currently are, the job prospects of a 35 year old coder in India are pretty limited. So, for now, it's mainly going to be hobby stuff, but who knows what the future will bring...