Change of scenery

I moved offices this week. I’m fortunate in that where I work we have real offices with doors, bookshelves and windows. I know that’s a rarity for most white collar people who aren’t lawyers or doctors, but for computer programmers it’s basically unheard of. At big companies you work in a cube farm. If you work for a smaller company, who knows, but I get the impression it’s often some open plan “Agile”-influenced environment.

I’ve been sharing an office since I started in January, and that hasn’t changed. I have a different office-mate now (let’s call him Dan), and it’s been really good for me. I’ve become probably 3 to 4 times as productive, just since I moved offices. Suddenly, the correct code is just…happening. I don’t feel distracted, or tempted to go run off to my time-wasting web sites. I don’t understand exactly how it’s happened, but there’s one difference that does come to mind:

Sharing my work with someone I want to impress.My office mate now is the sort of guy I hope I can be in thirteen years: he’s smart, well-respected, happy at home, content, and working at a job he loves. I want him to think that I’m doing a good job, especially at the beginning of my career, that I’m getting off on the right foot. I think this is closely related to the concept of mentoring. Get somebody whose opinion you value to look at your work. Who cares how good it is or how ready it is. If it sucks, they’ll tell you. If they’re the right person, they’ll tell you in a way that helps you make it better or get it done.