Professional Stagnation in Software Development

I really love my job. I have amazing clients, interesting projects and remote consulting gives me the freedom to travel, which up until recently, I really took advantage of.

Of course, once a family is on the scene, it’s a little harder to just take off to some foreign location. Things like schools, childcare, partner’s work commitments - they all add up and create a sort of anchor that makes the sort of travelling I used to do seemingly a lot more difficult.

And professionally, it’s very easy to fall back on some of the same tried and trusted ways of building software. Sure I’ve still kept learning new frameworks, trying to improve code quality, delivering more value in shorter timeframes… But there’s a particular thing I miss about working in a office, and that’s having a team to bounce ideas off of.

As a full-stack, one guy does everything sort of guy, I’ve not really had other techs to chat with. To counteract this slightly, I’ve helped create a local Geek night, simliar to the one we had operating in Cheltenham. It’s just an informal group of techies and various related professionals who get together and chew the fat about industry, clients and whatever else comes up. But as good as it is, it’s still not my tech stack.

So when I got approached to do a contract for a local Government department, I was pretty receptive to the idea. I went for an interview, and the skillset they need is pretty much a perfect fit. I met the team and am really excited to work with them, so it was a pretty easy decision to accept the role.

I needed to do something different (as well as make more of an effort to get involved locally) and this looks like it’s got some great potential.