FOSS benefits the field of computer engineering

[Fred]

On Friday 28 July 2006 13:49, Jon maddog Hall uttered thusly:
...
> I worked with two types of programmers in my very early days.  One type
> was very willing to share their code, their ideas and their skills with a
> young programmer. The other type was very secretive, and did not share,
> trying to protect "their edge" in the company.  This latter group was not
> very "open". It is from the first set of programmers that I learned the
> most.  Ironically (due to good management) it was the first set of
> programmers that moved forward in the company.

I concur. I would say I am in the first category. Indeed, I taught an entire 
team of C programmers how to program in Java a few years back, and mentored  
them doing their transition from C to Java, and that help make me a prime 
target in the ensuing acquisition of that company by Cisco, which brought 
me -- and a lot of them -- to New England (the company was in New Jersey). 

And yes, I had to hold my nose as they initially wrote C code in Java. The 
project is what mattered. I basically gave them some pointers and let them 
loose. Overall, it was successful. And you know what? No one gave a rat's 
ass about how good the code was -- just that it worked.

We software types do have a lot to learn from one another. Those that keep it 
all to themselves are always going to loose out. They may be brilliant 
coders, but the social aspect cannot be ignored.

Besides that, people will only count you as "brilliant" if you help *them* 
shine better. A "dirty little secret" that one can use to one's enlightened 
advantage -- or not.

Come to think of it, those were fun days. Especially fun with the CEO of that 
company sitting in on the first one or two days of my Java course! :-)

Well, that's my "secret" for those of you still in corporate land. Steal an 
opportunity to *teach* something. It's the best thing to get you noticed 
*quickly* all up and down the scales of management (and with your fellow 
colleagues), and will increase your value to that company in ways you cannot 
possibly imagine. Obviously, what you teach has to be of immediate benefit 
to everyone involved. But from what I've seen at most places, everyone can 
always stand to learn something new.

Now that I reflect back on past engagements, I did a *lot* of teaching and 
mentoring and presentation of much over the latter half of my career. It was 
the one singular thing that made me stand out over most of the other 
software engineers -- without me even realizing it.

-Freedom Fred