Work : Factiva

Some things in life are too good to be true. For me, Factiva was exactly that. It was a big company with big money, but I could still show up in jeans and a t-shirt. It was practically down the street from where I lived so I could spend a decent amount of time at the gym in the morning and get to work on time. Most importantly, they had a big project to work on which involved a whole bunch of technologies.

It's one of those rare situations where everything seems to point to a perfect fit. The guys at Factiva called back the consulting firm 30 minutes after the (first) interview and told them that they wanted to hire me. Wow. That's one of the fastest turn around times I've ever had with an interview process. But sadly, it was not meant to be.

To sum it up, now that I've had a few weeks to think it over, the situation was too stifling. It was creatively stifling in every aspect. I learned a great deal about myself and about the nature of the business; one minute they love ya', the next minute you're gone.

My software engineering professor, Derek Morris, once said something to the class along the lines of this:

"There's this box. And here's you, inside of this box. You know everything about this box. You know every detail of the inside of this box. You've been inside the box so long, you don't know what it's like to be on the outside of the box.

Don't let this happen to you."

No, he wasn't alluding to something so cliche as "think outside the box", but rather he was (as I recall) talking about time he had spent at Prudential (or some other company). Rather, he was making a point that no matter where we end up in the coming years, always remember that the industry, that technology, is ever changing and evolving at an astounding pace. Inertia is your enemy; if you start to settle in, you may start to lose focus of this fact and become complacent. Soon, all you know is the box and how to work within the box. You start to believe that your way is the best way because it's the only way you know.

Some of these guys at Factiva, they are stuck in the box. Deeply entrenched.

I stress, however, that this doesn't apply to everyone I worked with there. I worked alongside of two of the brightest developers I've met. Another one opened my eyes to the wonderful world of tableless layouts. For that, I am greatful for this experience. Sadly, I feel that all of their true potential is being held back by the leadership.

It was as if I had been commissioned by Jim to paint a 10 foot section of a 50 foot mural. Jim puts John, his good friend and amateur "art connoisseur" in charge of the project and organizing the 5 artists that would be painting the mural. We start painting, but John keeps feeling the need to interject and comment about my technique.

John would say things like, "When I paint murals, I always use a vertical brush stroke". And I would counter, "Well, I think a horizontal brush stroke is better with this type of paint. There is less vertical movement of the paint after I apply the stroke". Of course, my statement is true, but just because John has always painted with vertical strokes, he insists that I use a vertical stroke as well.

Since the wall is 10 feet high, at some point, we also needed a scaffold for all of the artists. Instead of having a detailed design for the scaffold, John pulls me away from my painting and says, "Hey, Chuck, we need a scaffold for the artists to reach the top of the walls. Why don't you build a scaffold". So, being a team player, I take a break from my painting and build the scaffold. But just as before, here comes John: "You know, one time, when I built a scaffold, I used nails, not screws. I think you should use nails instead of screws. Also, I used 12 foot long 2x4's not 8 foot long 2x4's". Well, if you wanted me to use nails and not screws, 12 foot long boards and not 8 foot long boards, then why didn't you tell me that to begin with? Then I try to explain that screws are better since that way, if we need to adjust the height, we could easily unscrew some of the boards and rescrew them and that using 8 foot long boards allowed use greater flexibility later on if we needed to reconfigure the scaffold. Of course, I was right.

No, no. John insists that I use nails and 12 foot long boards because he's always used nails and 12 foot long boards and he's built scaffolds using nothing but nails and 12 foot long boards. So, being the team player that I am, I used nails and 12 foot long boards.

A week later, Jim comes by to check out how it's going. He's shocked to see that my section of the mural isn't done yet. He thinks that I've been slacking. I try to explain to him that I've been working and working hard. In fact, I'm ususally the first artist to show up and the last artist to leave. It's just that John keeps pulling me away from painting to help the other artists and build stuff. Jim accepts my answer, but he's suspicious. He thinks that I've been slacking because he doesn't see enough paint on my portion of the wall. Meanwhile, after Jim leaves, John comes over to me and says, "Hey, you know what Chuck, you were right about using screws. These nails are a pain the butt when readjusting the height. And we need a small section over there, can you use 8 foot long boards instead? Can you rebuild parts of the scaffold using screws"? Of course, I oblige and do my part.

A day later, Jim comes by again. He sees that I haven't done any new painting yet. He's furious. I try to explain that I've been doing all this other stuff that I could have done right the first time, if it weren't for John's poor direction. He doesn't care. He's known John for 5 years, and he's only known me for a week and a half. I don't care because I've had enough of John for a lifetime. I'm ready to move on.

My contract expired exactly 3 months after I first stepped into the Factiva/Dow Jones building for the first time. I had a lot of anger when I left, mostly because I felt I was lied to and toyed with by the leadership. A month and a half before my contract was to end, I was told by my agent that they were going to hire me as a full time employee. A week before my contract ended, my manager told me that they would keep me on until January. Then on the day that my contract ended, I was told to pack my stuff. My manager didn't even tell me face to face. He didn't even come by to give a friendly parting handshake. But I've gotten over it; I don't think it was a situation where I could do my best work. Instead, I hold onto the great deal that I learned about myself and the direction that I want to head.

I play it very straight; I tell you what I think, regardless of whether it's nice or not (of course, I'll try to be nice while saying it). I guess some people don't like that aspect of my personality, but I think that, in the world of software development, there's not much room for ambiguity or games. In addition, I don't have a taste for office politics; I was rather appalled when Jim, John, and the team celebrated what amounted to the removal of one of the project managers. It's one thing to feel uplifted by the removal of a burden, but another to celebrate it, even if it came at the embarassment and suffering on behalf of another party.

I think, most importantly, I witnessed first hand what it's like to be stuck in a box and be engrossed by office politics. I hope it never happens to me :)

The bottom line should always be "What's good for the product?", not "What's good for me?"