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More Physical Therapy
Still sprained, still hurts. As such, I’ve been prescribed a couple weeks of Physical Therapy.
Not Getting Better
The aforementioned RICE method just isn’t doing the job. It’s also keeping me off the production floor for an additional 2 weeks. That sucks egregiously.
What About Bob?
I got a call this morning from the folks handling my Workman’s Comp claim regarding the prescription of physical therapy. The representative indicated a willingness to allow me to travel 3 miles down the street to the folks I’m familiar with rather than 40+ minutes for their preferred vendor. Considering that they are okay with me going to St. Luke’s Care Now for the WC check-ups, it’s reasonable to assume that I’d be allowed to go to their PT facility next door.
I had a great experience with the excellent staff at Physical Therapy at St. Luke’s West Penn when I was suffering from tibial tendonitis earlier this year. The ailment was unrelated to my current problem but no less painful. I have full confidence that Bob and the gang will have me walking on both feet in short order.
Painful
Growth is painful. Change is painful. But, nothing is as painful as staying stuck where you do not belong. ~N. R. Narayana Murthy
As much as I need a job after six months of unemployment, I’m finding the possibility of being somewhere that depends on me never being injured to be a bit problematic. I’m not going to be permitted to return for an additional two weeks at this juncture. That’s another two weeks without earnings.
Frankly, I can’t afford it.
Sure, all the free doctor visits are great (sort of) but I’d happily trade it for a desk job. I left IT about 5 years ago for personal reasons. After all this time, it’s unlikely I’d be able to get a job in the field because the first question is “what have you done lately?“.
Well, I haven’t done any programming lately because I don’t have a need to do so. Neither do I have a particular desire to do so. The question of what I’ve done lately isn’t so much a handicap on my side of the interview as it is on the potential employers’ side. It demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of what it takes to be a serviceable software developer.
Either you can think logically and implement methodically for successful results or you cannot. Plenty of people with the latest & greatest skillset can’t program their way out of a wet paper bag because they lack the ability to think and implement logically.
As I always told folks, it’s all ones and zeroes. The syntax doesn’t matter. Obviously, the newer languages and platforms make things easier by having half the programming already done for you. I wouldn’t want to have to write everything from scratch in binary or machine language. Not that I couldn’t. I just don’t happen to have a background in having done so. Give me a book and I’d certainly be able to pull it off.
That being said, what really turns me off about IT is all the overhead. I’m not configured for the extraneous BS anymore. Whatever gland or section of the brain is tasked with producing give-a-crap has atrophied significantly in recent years. Status meetings, corporate rah-rah, dress codes and office politics be damned. I just can’t do it anymore.
If I could find a gig where I could just sit in a quiet cubicle and do what needs doing without a lot of interaction with people who don’t matter (productivity mavens and sales staff) while having useful interaction with people who do matter (end users and design stakeholders), well that would be absolutely awesome.
I’m fairly sure that such jobs do not exist. If they do, they don’t exist within driving distance of my house.
Oh, and there’s another pain point. It’s freaking software, people. You DON’T have to be in an office with nimrods supervising, watching or otherwise micromanaging you. What I do, can be done far more efficiently in a virtual office. I enjoy being in proximity to my colleagues when I’m between tasks and can ask for or provide assistance but in reality, I’d be far better off working from home and uploading my work.
BUT NO!!!!!!!
There’s always some nervous Nelly running the show who’ll go apoplectic if the developers aren’t corralled together in some pointless cube farm under their watchful eye. Sorry, I did that for two decades. That’s quite enough for one lifetime. Just can’t do it anymore like that.
Okay, so I’m whining again. Big deal. It’s my blog and I’ll grouse if I want to. I hope you have a happier Wednesday than I’m having.