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First, the relevant and shameless plug for a blog entry of mine: Selling Ideas to Management[^]
If possible, try to focus some of your streamlining energy towards the tech support side of your job. You will need to make time to gradually improve the process heavy workflow as you can, as well as make improvements to the software that cause continual tech support headaches.
The way I see it, you are in a perfect position to learn what the customer really wants rather than guessing, and writing software dictated by some marketing research. This sort of experience will be invaluable to you as you progress in your career.
If you don't get to code nearly as much as you would like, and you are not overloaded with hours from your current job, create a hobby project, or contribute to an open source project that could benefit from your talents.
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Paul M Watt wrote: The way I see it, you are in a perfect position to learn what the customer really wants rather than guessing, and writing software dictated by some marketing research. This sort of experience will be invaluable to you as you progress in your career.
I hadn't thought of it that way. I guess I'm in a good position to level up UX and my general user interactions. Nice article by the way. I think I'll read over it again before the next time I think about talking to management about improvements. You totally had me pegged in the opening scenario. I guess, for me, what it boils down to is that I will just have to make the time for the things I think will make a difference.
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Thanks for the compliments.
musicm122 wrote: You totally had me pegged in the opening scenario.
I think this has happened to many people.
I played this game for 4 years at a company until I realized that we were becoming more and more successful, and they would never schedule time for the quality refactoring I was asking for. I also realized, that I could find time to to make those adjustments gradually. So that's what I did.
At the company I work for now, we have a yearly request of R&D ideas, and they fund the best ideas. As I put together my ideas, most of them we quality related. That's when a colleague pointed out to me that the R&D committee is looking for "value add" proposal's.
That's when it clicked for me.
Regards
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Perhaps you can start with something small where you can prove that you end up saving time and money.
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Thats a pretty good idea. I could whip out an installer for patch gen updates or something like that pretty easy.
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My suggestion, my opinion, been in your shoes before...
If you have one iota of an inkling to leave, then leave. You will never go anywhere in this business, without moving up and broadening your horizons, and wallet.
Always move up, never laterally. Always move up in pay, never take a new job for the same pay.
Follow you dreams and you and your family will go far.
I am extremely happy with my work and I make very good money. I provide very well for my family now. I didn't start off on easy street. I had to work my ass off, but my hard work and learning from the best around me, paid off.
Good luck.
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Slacker007 wrote: Always move up, never laterally. Always move up in pay, never take a new job for the same pay.
Follow you dreams and you and your family will go far.
More great advice.
This has been my experience too.
I agree 100%.
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You have to weigh those priorities of yours. I can offer one piece of advice. Years down the road you may regret not having as much time with your daughter. Would you say the same about any job?
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Something I should ask, I got a phone call from an agent last SUNDAY @ 10:13am, I took the call and I am told spoke to him/her/it(?) for around a half hour. The down side of this was I was recovering from a Saturday the marked a friends 40th (alcohol + curry + alcohol) anyone else been bother by an agent on a Sunday morning....
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He called during church to see if you're religious.
Whether or not you passed the test is entirely dependent upon his belief system.
Good luck.
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Quote: He called during church to see if you're religious.
I did not think of that, might be why I have heard nothing since! 
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If he called on a Sunday at 10, and you answered on a Sunday at 10... the probability is high that you are of a the same mindset regarding religion.
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Not if he's in a different time zone.
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Quite the sneaky way to get around discrimination laws, I guess.
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"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, answering your phone." -- Bilbo
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glennPattonPUB wrote: The down side of this was I was recovering from a Saturday the marked a friends 40th
so how did the interview go? step by step please. 
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I was still partly drunk, I seem to remember saying 'moslty' (ala Newt Aliens) so it can't have been my best...
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Found Eastwood's "Fist Full of Dollars" trilogy (DVD) at a book store today.
I'll pick up a pizza and a 2 liter coke on the way home tonight.
Looks like the weekend is all set.
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Should your run out of Eastwood Spaghetti Westerns, and if you don't mind subtitles, there's a considerable number of post WW II Japanese made movies with Samurais. Of the same genre as Seven Samurai.
Available on streaming video in a location near you.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Ditch the coke and get some beers. Love spaghettis.
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I'll meet you half way and pick up some Rum as well. 
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Rum?
Where's the party?
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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I just picked up a Gamera Collection from Amazon. 11 (really awful) movies for only $9. It will be proudly displayed on the shelf next to my Godzilla collection.
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Just a day ago, I watched part of "A Fistful of Dollars", LOL, it only came to my mind because I was watching Back to the Future II before and was curious where that western scene that is playing on Biff's TV actually originates from. Have to watch it again in full-length (I was partly occupied with PC work the other day), no comparison how movies are made today, compared to the too fast cutting nowadays this one seems to be playing in slow-motion.
Off-topic: Speaking about Back to the Future, it's still one of the best geeky science ficition movie (trilogy) out there. Watching it from today's perspective, it amazingly feels like you were watching footage or documentary about the Moon landing and the Apollo missions, and all the time you ask yourself: "Hell, how did they manage to go up there with this primitive, stone-age kind of technology?" And all of that just with the amount of 1.21 gigawatts!
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