Chapter 1: A Sudden Departure

It was a typical Friday when my boss, Mr. Long, the founder of the custom software firm where I had begun my career, approached me outside with my final paycheck in hand. I stood there, squinting against the sunlight, holding the envelope while movers took away the IBM 360, the terminals, and the Compaq luggable that I frequently used for coding.

While I can't recall every word he said, the harsh tone of his cigarette-tinged voice still resonates. "They shut us down. We were only worth ninety cents on the dollar, and they didn’t want to lose any more money," he said, the bitterness in his voice unmistakable. The 'they' was delivered with enough venom to pierce through glass. It seemed that he had allied himself with a large consulting firm—perhaps Arthur Anderson—and we all know how that story ends when a small player engages with a major one.

Following that, Mr. Long may have wished me luck or shared his next steps, but I was too engulfed in panic to process it. My mind raced with thoughts of my almost-new Toyota Corolla and the recently leased apartment in a reasonably decent area of Johnson County.

At that moment, I unknowingly transitioned into the role of a consultant.

Out of sheer necessity, I reached out to the clients I had been assisting, not expecting much. To my surprise, they were eager to hear from me. I was young and blissfully unaware of how the industry operated, which made their enthusiasm unexpected. Their projects had just been abruptly halted, leaving them with lost progress payments, and I was literally the only available resource who could assist them. These projects were developed in a niche programming language called Dataflex, known by only a handful of people in Kansas, and I was the sole developer for each of them.

Who ya gonna call?

My first consulting gig didn't last long, but it imparted numerous lessons, many of which I only recognized later. Here’s a condensed list:

First, Mr. Long was genuinely committed to his team. He ensured that everyone received their final paycheck. Can you picture Zuckerberg handing out checks to Facebook employees if the platform were to suddenly shut down? Exemplary leaders like him are rare. When I had to close a business in 2001, I remembered Mr. Long's integrity, and everyone received their final pay. I may stumble, but I aspire to be a stand-up person like him.

Second, smoking is a poor choice. Mr. Long succumbed to lung cancer just a few years later.

Third, advocate for your worth; if you don’t, you won’t receive it. Initially, I was earning $6 per hour (no, that’s not a typo; it was 1983, and my ignorance was palpable). When I started my consulting journey, I raised my rate to $8 per hour.

They were paying Mr. Long $45 per hour, I discovered later. I shouldn’t have taken advantage of them (and I didn’t), but $8 an hour? If time travel existed, I would go back and admonish my younger self. Along with some other dubious choices involving an Impala, a fiberglass horse, and a grocery bag filled with M-80s. And let's not forget Apple stock—definitely Apple stock.

Fourth, no job is permanent. We are knowledge workers, and our security lies in our ability to adapt, not within a corporation. Take Arthur Anderson, for example—once a giant among firms, they were Enron's accountant and faced legal troubles that ultimately led to their downfall, not long after my own consulting venture ended.

Fifth, be cautious of trendy toolchains. Dataflex turned out to be a dead end, similar to Dbase, Powerbuilder, and Lotus Notes. I eventually transitioned to C, then C++, and explored Java, PHP, Solidity, and others. While my path wasn't always optimal, it has served me well. I am committed to learning any necessary framework, but I refuse to confine myself to labels like 'Laravel guy' or 'Unity guy.' I will do my utmost to avoid painting myself into a corner.

And that concludes my thoughts for now, as I’ve heard that lengthy articles can be off-putting.

This serves as my introduction:

"Hello. I’m Dean, and I have a passion for computer programming."

I plan to write about software development, consulting, and travel—lots of travel—while likely wandering into topics like design patterns, architecture, and even the Thirty Years' War.

If readers find this engaging, I’ll continue writing. If not, I’ll probably still write, simply because I enjoy it.

Chapter 2: A Call to Action

If you are interested in software development and are at the beginning stages of your career (or still studying), you might find my series on software engineering principles beneficial. I created it after observing the uneven quality of material in my daughter's computer science curriculum.