Chris's Random Ramblings
A company that made programmers wear suits would have something deeply wrong with it.And what would be wrong would be that how one presented oneself counted more than the quality of one's ideas. That's the problem with formality. Dressing up is not so much bad in itself. The problem is the receptor it binds to: dressing up is inevitably a substitute for good ideas. It is no coincidence that technically inept business types are known as "suits."
Over the years, I've asked a few people outside the computing industry what they think about having to dress up to go to work. One reason which comes up often is that they don't believe other people will take them as seriously if they don't wear formal clothing. Although I think this is unfortunate, I can understand the feeling. It is disappointing to experience significant differences in levels of customer support in retail shops depending on whether you're dressed casually (but neatly), or in a suit. Even when shopping in places you would at first think it would be irrelevant. Interestingly this doesn't seem to happen nearly so much in the US (west coast at least) as compared to Australia. Perhaps it is because there are many more wealthy people who dress casually, and the shops can not afford to be so snobby.
I don't think the situation in the general workplace will change until more people decide that what you wear is not relevant and decide to dress how they want to (casual or formal), rather than in what they believe will impress other people. It'll probably cause problems for those who attempt to start the trend, but in the end I think it would lead to a better situation. One where we value people on their ideas and what they produce, rather than what they are wearing. I'm lucky enough to work in an industry where this convention has already been established.
On the upside, its about 800m shorter (over a 7km journey), and its easier to go faster along Northbourne avenue as the road is in pretty good condition. Also the cars all seem to respect the cycle lane (there was one truck which didn't really fit into a lane). On the downside I stopped at a few traffic lights, and the cycle lane is so narrow you can't really overtake another slower cyclist (never thought that this would be a problem for me). The biggest problem is that pollution is significantly worse along Northbourne avenue. The exhaust fumes from the cars and trucks were quite bad, and it was a couple of hours after peak hour.
Finally finished the journal article I've been working on for a few days. Always takes much longer than estimated. Managed to squeeze in a little bit of K42 work inbetween urgent LSB test suites fixes. The good news is LSB 2.0RC1 is out and we should be able to release an official version very soon!
Its been fun getting back into some C++ programming again after not having done anything serious in that area for about 4 years. Interestingly the compilers still seem to be trying to catch up and there was yet another release of the standard just last year. A few days of hunting down C++ compiler bugs brought back memories of the last time I worked on a large C++ project.
I also went to Software Livre which turned out to be an excellent Free Software conference. Not only is it huge (over three thousand attendees), but it had an excellent range of talks. Everything from good technical talks, to discussions about the philosphy of free software. Especially thought provoking were the sesions on the importance of free culture and the creative commons.
Met lots of interesting people including the guys from LTC Brazil and ended up visiting them at their office in Campinas.