Rampidbyter Rampid byter: A byte of my .Net developing life.

I was thinking about deadlines earlier today when sitting down with my client manager trying to get clarification on where the data I needed was coming from. At any point during the day I have people stopping by my cubicle asking for new features, or asking for new capabilities. These requests for programs I’ve already written outside the scope of the initial priority work to be done. I guess it comes with the territory as before I got there the programmer was a novice with less than a few months experience to VB.net 1.1, and when he left nobody could find/update the programs.

As an aside I wonder whether they call it a deadline because in the old days if you didn’t make it to the point of successful delivery they would shoot you dead. Hrm.

So I’ve stepped in and revamped most of the programs out in production, and now that they’re getting them pushed out so quickly they’re anxious to get more added to them. Unfortunately I can only do a certain number of things at once before quality, speed, and efficiency is compromised. At the moment I’m at my peak trying to revamp a pretty complex inventory/order/parts allocation interface program with the actual inventory pegging application, and three other applications used for management/logistics meetings all in parallel.

With this responsibility I’m also taking two graduate level business classes that are outside the scope of my knowledge base, which requires extra time to commit to memory. At the same time I’m studying for two more certification exams, preparing a lecture for next week on ASP.Net 2.0 new functionality for my home office, and I’m writing a paper to submit to my previous college for change recommendations to the curriculum. In addition to this I’m working on two applications, one with a group of others, and one for my own personal interests.

So I’ve had quite a bit on my hands lately. I was asked by my home office to start a management training program that would be in addition to everything else I have going on, but I’ve thankfully had this training postponed until the Fall. In the fall I’m also slotted to get married on top of everything else going on in my life. Speaking of life a friend of a friend just moved off to another state, and I have to say even though I’ve only hung out with the guy for a little bit it feels a little bit more empty around here. With that on top of my step brothers marital problems trying to help him cope, and trying to lend my support to him it’s been a trying time.

My other bird Katie (actually a dude but I still call him a chick) has come down with a case of pneumonia, which if you remember my bird Wilber died of. So I’m stressing out that she’s sick too because it could cause me to lose her. I was asked the other day where I’ve been by a friend of mine, and hopefully this explains why I’ve been AWOL from life for a little while. At the end of the day you’ve just got to say “it’s alright” and put your head down to push through.