>>Single Point of Failure >>

So true… been there!

Ξ December 13th, 2011 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Cartoon | ∇ Interruptions, Programmer, Work |

credits here.

Exit

Ξ February 5th, 2010 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Photo | ∇ B&W, Exit, Photography, Work |

“I need an Exit..”

So many fires to put out…

Ξ March 5th, 2009 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Complaints | ∇ Concentration, Focus, Work |

Today was a hard day!

I’m usually a jack of all trades (and for sure, master of none) always ready to lend a helping hand whenever a problem or issue is raised at work. Today was one of those days. A day that started at full speed, with almost constant interruptions and no time to focus on my own tasks.

I left the office with the sense that nothing had been produced. Let’s hope tomorrow is a better day.

Virtual Visit

Ξ November 29th, 2008 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Work | ∇ Album, Rome, Travel, Work |

Next week I’ll be traveling to Rome. Yes, I’ll be working for most of the day, but I hope to have some free time to visit the city (or at least some parts of it). Looking for some online information on what the city has to offer I found a very nice photo album, here.

You can virtually visit the select location through a set of photos taken by others, but soon I’ll tell you if the actual places are as beautiful as they seem.

After some more searching I found that the idea has been used (researched?) in Microsoft® Live Labs to develop Photosynth.

Bye, bye… Vacations!

Ξ July 7th, 2008 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Complaints | ∇ Complaints, Vacations, Work |

The title might make the reader to think this is one of many posts that appear in this time of the year in blogs all around the blogosphere. Excuse me, but this is not the case… I’m not saying good-bye, trading the workplace with some tropical paradise to spend a well deserved vacation. I will, eventually!…

This post is about how I saw my vacation delayed yet another week. Yep! The costumer asked to get the delivery before the end of the month… So, first deliver the product, then and only then, vacations…

Now, more than ever, I think that I started sprinting the marathon a few months ago, and it’s still going…

@ somewhere

Obsession

Ξ June 15th, 2008 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Introspection | ∇ Burnout, Obsession, Work, Workaholic |

When you enjoy what you do for a living, your job can be the main motive for getting out of bed in the morning. Not considering other factors, such as family, this is fine and can be the right way to get the personal gratification everyone needs.

As we should all know, in a work environment, dealing with tight schedules is difficult. An even greater problem arises when work becomes an obsession (persons with such an obsession are known as ‘workaholics’). The compulsion can drive a person to start working at home in order to try and finish the assigned tasks, or to stay late in the office.
Such an environment doesn’t help the worker that can let himself into depression. Depression can arise due to the permanent delay of gratification associated with the termination of a task. This state is known as burnout. Here’s some articles on the subject [1] [2] [3] [4].

Home Alone

Ξ May 11th, 2008 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Work | ∇ Complaints, Introspection, Work |

I’m home! …alone, as the title suggests!

The weather is kind of crappy, with lots of dark clouds in the sky. So, although my wife and daughter decided to visit her mother/grand-mother, I decided to stay home and work on somethings that are pendent from last friday.

Yeah! I brought work home, once again… It’s reaching a point were it’s not even comfortable anymore. To much work to do, and not enough time to do it.

Last weak I tried to stick to office hours. That ‘effort’ lead to only a couple of hours more than a regular work week, but because of that work followed me home! A couple of simple reports, but I’m becoming really tired of bringing work home.

Working late…

Ξ April 28th, 2008 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Complaints | ∇ Deadline, Late, Night, Work |

I must assume that usually my work comes home with me.

Of course I know this isn’t a thing to do often (or is it never?), and that good schedule estimation foresees delays to compensate… for delays! But still, I enjoy spending a late night remotely debugging someone else’s code, or compiling a library from scratch.

Tonight is one of those nights, much because the deadline is so close I already sense the smell of delivery in the air! So, here am I, compiling, debugging, until one falls asleep…

Weekend Blogger

Ξ April 19th, 2008 | → 1 Comments |
∇ Introspection, Work | ∇ Introspection, Schedule, Work |

Please notice, this post is not a complaint, just a statement of acceptance.

I’m a weekend blogger. After analyzing the more recent posts, and the dates in which they where added, everything indicates that this a place is managed by a weekend blogger.

Why do I only add new stuff to the blog in the weekend? This question has a simple answer… During the week, the workload amounts to more that 10-11 hours per day, which leaves very little time for anything else.

This doesn’t mean that the blog is completely abandoned during this period. New posts are drafted, design is improved, comments are approved, but the publishing of a new post is an event that needs more attention (and so, more time).

The lack of time also has impact on the amount of research done for each post. According to some blogging tips, the research is important and for me that implies photography time. Today is raining, but usually during the weekend my SLR become my faithful companion.

As my workload doesn’t seem to be lowering anytime soon, my posts will continue to be added during the weekend…

Nine to five…

Ξ February 27th, 2008 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Introspection, Work | ∇ planning, Schedule, Work |

A job from nine to five… thats a kind of job I’ll never be able to have. Not because I couldn’t apply a job like that, but simply because those kinds of jobs are not for me. Routine is a thing that can be enjoyed for a little while, but over an extended period becomes boring.

I need to change tasks from time to time, and if changing tasks is not a possibility… the need to, at least change working schedule, is seen as a must have. At work, where the ongoing task is estimated to continue for at least two and a half months, my work is weekly divided and (almost randomly) distributed.

Of course, there some constraints to this schedule, such as the need to pick up my daughter at school. But, the feeling of being one of the privileged with a non-nine-to-five job is very good. Of course, that freedom comes at a price… but that will be the subject of another post(s).