Every now and then, someone stumbles across my blog and asks me how they, too, can work in development. I try to be supportive, but usually find myself actively discouraging them, at least at first.<\/p>\n
You’d better be strong, flexible, resourceful, good with languages<\/a> and have more than the normal allotment of patience.<\/p>\n I’ve been stuck in cyclones<\/a>, got malaria, dengue, been hospitalised from the after-effects of prolonged dehydration, had more parasites in more places than anyone really wants to know. I’ve been stung by things straight out of a Tim Burton movie<\/a>. I’ve had death threats and constant, insanely unreasonable demands on my time and my pocketbook.<\/p>\n To put things into perspective: we had a 7.5 earthquake here a couple of weeks ago, and were laughing about it within the hour. Nature is tough and unforgiving here. You’d better be prepared.<\/p>\n You may think all this is exciting. It’s emphatically not. Put your Hollywood imagination away. It’s tedious, uncomfortable and often dangerous in small, boring, trivial ways.<\/p>\n I walked away from an affluent existence as one of the first few professional web developers to enter the field and survive now on a small fraction of what I used to earn (although I do live quite well by local standards – my new house has hot water!). That may sound romantic – I’ll admit it does to me – but the price is no security in my old age. I’m fool enough not to worry, but you may not be so inclined.<\/p>\n Development is a dirty, arduous grind, with few noteworthy victories. You have to measure success like a batting average. Just assume you’ll strike out<\/a> more than you succeed<\/a>. Most projects are unwinnable<\/a> from the start, and you only go through with them because to do nothing would be worse.<\/p>\n On top of all of that, you’ll need to adjust to a culture so foreign to your experience that it will often leave you bemused<\/a> or even shocked to the core<\/a>. And you won’t have any safety net to rely on. There won’t be any police if you’re in a tight spot (unless they’re the ones who put you in it), the fire truck – if it arrives at all – will come in time to water down the ashes.<\/p>\n You’ll see children crippled and even killed by trivially treatable conditions<\/a>. You’ll see good people die and bad people prosper.<\/p>\n But once in a while, someone will smile at you like this<\/a>, and it will all be worthwhile….<\/p>\n … It better be, anyway, because most of the time, that’s all the payment you get.<\/p>\n