The Pragmatic Craftsman :: Simplicity from complexity : by Stanley Kubasek ::

OK, you might have noticed that I have been changing, rearranging stuff on this blog: first it was called tech.pal, then Stas on IT, and now Stas on Software-Eng. Hey, Stas, can’t you settle on something and stop changing it. The problem with that is until now, I hope, I couldn’t. This is similar to designing software: your first attempt will almost never be correct. Only after you refine it, rethink it, and rework it, you will have the optimal solution. I think I got it after couple of trials. I’m going to call it Stas on Software-Eng. Why? There are couple of reasons.

First, and this is what inspired me to change it, is that I wanted a variation of the very successful Joel on Software blog. I wanted to call it Stas on Software but I wanted to be a little more original, so I compromised and I chose Stas on Software-Eng. So far so good, I’m happy ))

Second, and this is the bottom line, Software Engineering is my specialization, my passion, and my future (I sure hope so) — I have a B.S in Computer Science and an M.S. in Computer Science with a specialization in Software Engineering. So Software Engineering is of great interest to me. And it will be for as long as I can make a living out of it. And for as long as I’m going to enjoy writing software. Hopefully for as long as I live.

So you know why I chose the name, now I’ll tell you what I want to talk about in it. I’m still a fairly inexperienced software developer: I’m 26 — turned 26 last week — with around 4 years of software-development experience. My goal is to become a true software craftsman, sort of an all-star developer. I know this is going to be a long journey and it is not going to be easy. But I am going to become one because I’m commited to it, and I’ve always achieved my goals (and that’s my goal). I want to share my experiences in the journey: what I’m doing; what I want to do; what works; what doesn’t work; what I like and don’t like; my views on software engineering; and more. Basically, I want to talk about any software-engineering issue, with the main theme of becoming a master craftsman.