This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz by Thomas Gideon. Original Post: Day Two Feed Title: Command Line Interface Feed URL: http://www.gideonfamily.org/roller/rss/cmdln?catname=Java Feed Description: The blog of a programmer-hacktivist-curmudgeon who occasional rants about society, work, and technology, among other things. Now how do I get to a command prompt on this thing? Latest Java Buzz Posts Latest Java Buzz Posts by Thomas Gideon Latest Posts From Command Line Interface

OK, I am feeling a little better about the new job after my second day. Yeah, I'm still a (almost) lone Java bad ass amongst a herd of Cobol hackers (can you rightly call a Cobol programmer a "hacker"?) and the political landscape here is probably the hairiest of anywhere I've been. But the hopeless problem I was tasked with yesterday has resolved itself and I've been given some new, more interesting challenges.

After reading through quite a bit of the generated code from the third party doing the port, I went to the team lead to admit I couldn't figure out the problem he gave me, and secondarily expressed some concern about the quality of the generated code. Not in an abstract way, but in a "I can't believe some of these files are five or six thousand lines long and 90% of it could be easily reduced by applying basic, proper OO principles" way. He explained the problem was essentially operator error, then took me in to talk to the development manager about my other concerns.

The development manager was receptive and asked me to come up with something we could use to pushback on the vendor to improve the quality of their generated code. I actually really enjoy re-factoring code. By hand. Yes, I am sick and need help. She also asked if I wanted to and could help with further training the staff on Java and web development. w00t! I enjoy teaching and I enjoy even more helping raise the bar.

Plus, Steve is the other Java bad ass and I can think of maybe only three other people (good luck, guys) I'd have in his place. He shared similar concerns when we went out to lunch and explained he had also resolved to just give it some time, attributing some of the anxiety to adjusting to a new, very different work environment.