{"id":409,"date":"2024-05-16T11:19:33","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T10:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8082\/?p=409"},"modified":"2024-07-05T11:25:03","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T10:25:03","slug":"surrey-valley-coders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost:8082\/2024\/05\/16\/surrey-valley-coders\/","title":{"rendered":"Surrey Valley Coders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Don\u2019t laugh, but I\u2019m currently obsessed with those tacky car renovation programs on Netflix, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt9498102\/\">Rust Valley Restorers<\/a> being the latest viewing. I really love it, because they take the most decrepit cars and bring them back to life, in a big way. Plus they are always talking about their \u2018shop\u2019 (translation: garage). They are promoting the shop, working at the shop, hiring and training staff at the shop, returning to the shop, hating on the shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My daughters dislike Rust Valley Restorers, even though it would be excellent bedtime viewing, but in many ways it really encompasses what I want out of my professional life. Often after daddy daycare duties, I refer to going to \u2018the shop\u2019 (upstairs office) to \u2018code the Linux kernel\u2019 (usually C# .Net, although they don\u2019t know the difference). I imagine the coding equivalent of cutting out panels, welding, sanding and painting. A totally awesome pastime, but sadly neither daughter seems interested in an apprenticeship in my shop, just yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At some point, my profession became a vocation, and work stopped being so much about earning a living. Instead, software development (extending into software requirements) became something more akin to a craft or a skill; something to practice, refine, and discuss philosophically with others. Having a community of like-minded people to do this with really helps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I also realised I\u2019m no longer interested in (or at peace with) the whole inside\/outside IR35 waste of time. I\u2019m pretty sure Mike, Avery and the Rust Valley Restorers aren\u2019t either. Regardless of what tax wrapper the (innovation-killing) UK government wants to impose, clients hiring Frank Ray\/Better Software UK\/umbrella company still get the same thing &#8211; craftsmanship and a vocation beyond a salaried paycheck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nice looking branding and a clever Ltd company website are no longer necessary to ensure the control I require for good professional workmanship. Instead, I simply say \u2018no\u2019 to any requests that may compromise quality. Why should the client tell you how to install a new transmission or rebuild a big block engine? It\u2019s a completely new approach from my previous day rate contracting, and my shop sells what it sells; most clients really benefit from what I do best; a smaller number of clients should probably buy from elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps Netflix will make a series about my \u2018shop\u2019 one day, <strong>Surrey Valley Coders<\/strong> would be a good title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Don\u2019t laugh, but I\u2019m currently obsessed with those tacky car renovation programs on Netflix, Rust Valley Restorers being the latest viewing. I really love it, because they take the most decrepit cars and bring them back to life, in a big way. Plus they are always talking about their \u2018shop\u2019 (translation: garage). They are promoting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-better-software-uk","missing-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8082\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8082\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8082\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8082\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8082\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8082\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410,"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8082\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions\/410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8082\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8082\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost:8082\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}