A peek into the real world

Phew…a good month into my new life as a software engineer, I can honestly say that many of the distressing situations discussed by the books and articles I read during my thesis, do not grab the problems out of thin air. It appears that both requirements gathering, communication, documentation and code maintenance are topics which requires both ‘fingerspitzgefuhl’ and consideration.

Its a joy to participate in a working relationship, but several of the small firm challenges I investigated during the last year readily applies to my new job. Emotional code ownership and task delegation appear to be key factors in ensuring a smooth running team.

Today I’m a little anxious concerning my abilities to gather the necessary amount of self responsibility for the job, as my tasks depend heavily on already burdend employees. I wonder if all small firms eventually reach a point where they have to decide on either making a huge leap in market and product faith, or simply decide on the current niche position with all its inherent risks?