I was sitting at work today, and started thinking about my industry as a whole. Many of my developer friends whine and complain about their jobs. And to be fair, the job of a developer is never an easy one. There isn't much glamour to it, whenever something goes wrong, it's always our fault. Customers and end users are never satisfied. You are perceived as geeky, and socially awkward. Your friends will forever berate you with requests of "fix my computer" or "help me install this". I don't know a lot of lawyer friends that would eagerly divulge legal advice on a moment’s notice. And then I started to think about why this is. Why is it that we are so underappreciated, so scorned? I mean the pay isn't bad, and it's a job that makes you think and do problem solving. So perhaps it stems from the role and perception of IT.

IT Departments in most companies play a supporting role. They don't really create anything, they're usually not core to the underlying business, they are not the "money-makers". But it really depends on where you work. If you work for Microsoft, you are the "money-maker". You probably get treated like a rock star. If you work in IT support for a legal company, you probably get crapped on. So in a way I feel lucky to work for a company where the software and services we do is done by the developers. So to my fellow developers, I would give this piece of advice. If you are frustrated with your job, maybe it's not the career you should be mad at. Maybe it's the company, or the department. But we should strive try to find happiness in what we do. And if it is the job or department, then change it. If you're passionate about development, then you should work hard to be in a place that appreciates your craft.