20 YEARS IN THE BUSINESS

It truly is. I won't dwell or cry on how unbelievably fast time flies (I do that every now and then when no one's looking). It's a fact of existence, and there’s no other solution than to accept it. Even though it is quite challenging at times.

The difference between these two pictures is exactly two decades. The one on the left was taken in October 2003, while the right one is from October 2023. But I can assure you - that guy on both of them is me. Just 20 years .. smarter? Well, the one thing I know for sure is that I’m getting my haircut more often these days.

Before I start comparing these very different periods, a short disclaimer. The following provides the perspective of someone (and that means me) who has been working professionally in various positions in the field of Software Development in the past 20 years. It reflects my observations and direct experiences and it could have been slightly different for the person in the same time-range but other place (or country for that matter). Don’t take it, please, as a “single point of truth” of Software Development history, all-right? Let’s go.

What has changed

When I had my first opportunity to work in the IT field in 2003, my knowledge was very limited. But so was for many of us. I vividly recall my very first interview, which began with a somewhat joking question: "So you have seen a computer yet, right?". It may sound really amusing today, but believe it or not, in 2003, it wasn't yet a given standard that everyone knows how to work with a computer. Today, such a question is probably no longer part of an interview process for a potential candidate entering the Software Development industry, and as for myself, I've undoubtedly learned a great deal since then. However, it's curious that it often feels like I know even less. One of the distinctions is that now I'm much better aware how much there is. Anyway, for this short "essay," I'd rather focus on objective realities that apply universally instead of my subjective feelings - the concrete differences in this field between 2003 and 2023.

For the younger generation, it might be a bit difficult to see how development of a software was done back in the early 2000s. Can you imagine your daily work without any of the tools and services we take for granted today? Git, CI/CD, Cloud Computing, Dockers, microservices architecture .. none of that was available back then. You would have a hard time to use package managers too, just few of them existed and even those were quite empty. Twenty years ago it was still not unusual to code in a simple text editor (despite some solid IDEs were already in place) and as a shared codebase often served just the local server where the files had been constantly replaced by the newer version of the code. In some progressive teams the Subversion might be already grabbed as the centralized VCS at most. Forget colab tools like Slack, Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Your best shot to communicate online is email, IM called ICQ (which is usually prohibited) or a fresh new experimental tool called Skype. If you are used to working in SCRUM, the most prevalent project management technique of the last 10 years, you will be disappointed in 2003. It may have existed already back then, but most of the projects were run on the standard Waterfall system (you are not robbed about any funny days when you missed this).

What about getting information and gaining knowledge? Today, when we want to learn something new, we simply look up a tutorial on YouTube or on any of the many online learning platforms. Virtually anytime and anywhere. When we need help or get stuck, we search on StackOverflow or in most recent times we ask for help from AI with tools like ChatGPT or Copilot. But none of this existed in 2003. Moreover, our office, with probably 80 people, had only one computer connected to the Internet (of course it was partly because of security reasons as I worked for a bank at the time, but you get the picture - just imagine your work today offline). The best - and practically only - way to learn something or get the answer was often just the good-old way of asking a more experienced colleague. Or in extreme cases, running to the nearest bookstore.

Technological progress can be easily seen also in the world of computer hardware. My first developer laptop in 2005 ran on a Pentium M 1.5 GHz processor (single-core of course, as multi-core processors were not emerging in the tech world until 2006) with 1 GB of RAM. However, we still used desktop computers with even lower specifications (Pentium 4/AMD Athlon 1-2 GHz, 256 MB of RAM) with the CRT monitors taking most of the space on your desk. These machines were used mainly for various hardware and software configuration testing with Windows OS versions like XP, 2000, ME, and even 98.

There has been quite a radical change concerning the working environment as well. Today we can find in our offices table-tennis, video game consoles, sofas, or even crazy stuff like popcorn-makers (I’m not kidding, we have one). Back then, we might have seen such things only in pictures of Google headquarters. Now we can too enjoy all of that - if we are ever there! Working from home - just a crazy utopian dream in the early 2000s - happened to be the new normal after 2020. Two decades ago it was impossible technically, legislatively, maybe even mentally. Now everywhere present distributed teams which often contain people from several countries around the world were almost unthinkable, too. The most distant colleague of mine was sitting on the other floor of the very same building in the worst case.

Another more social than technological aspect I can observe is the average age of a random software development team. For instance, in 2003 it was something around 22 for my team, and even that number was pretty skewed by our lead who happened to be 26. (all-right, we had one guy around 35, but he was something like the manager of the Universe and nobody talked to him as he was so old). Today young kids around twenty are in the obvious minority. Sure, this is a natural evolution, however it makes me a little uneasy that now I’m that “old guy” myself. Luckily, some of my colleagues still talk to me.

Let’s wrap the differences up with a little look into outside of the professional area. In 2003, most people interacted with the Internet only in the geeky places called Internet cafes, in some visionary technical schools, or a few specific workplaces. Internet connections at home were still rare, actually many people didn't even have a computer at home in the early 2000s. Still not everyone owned a cell phone. There were no social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn. The term "social media" didn't even exist. No Android or iOS apps, smartphones were not invented yet. So how did humanity proceed back then? Simply offline. We read more paper books, wrote letters (often by hand!), went to cinemas, bought newspapers from kiosks every morning to catch up on how our favorite team had played the previous night, and sweated in the crowd when we wanted to see that punk band perform live. What complicated times those were!

What has not changed

But let’s also briefly mention some aspects that haven't changed much, if at all. The craft of Software Development is still a challenging career where you need to stay focused all the time and where you are destined for lifelong study. This is an environment where a new unprecedented break-through technology or framework appears one year, and could be forgotten the next. Maybe the fastest-pace industry in the world, where if you want to stay relevant, you need to learn constantly and where it is not unusual to sacrifice some (or a lot) of your free time. And last but not least, employment in the business of software development is still pretty secure* and the one of the best paid - just like 20 years ago.

And what hasn't changed for me personally? It is definitely the passion for this job. I don't think there's much difference between the 19-year-old me and today's me when it comes to programming, computers, or technology in general. If anything, I'm even more dedicated to education and creative work. I can honestly say that I still enjoy what I do for a living, even after two decades in. I look forward to the new challenges my position brings every day. And I really don’t say that as some form of cliché. Trust me, I realize that not everyone is as lucky. Too many people are doing jobs they don’t like or even literally hate. And some don’t have any job at all and would be happy even for a bad one. This is the thing that I'm constantly trying to have in mind, mainly while some impossible requirements enter the scene or some never-ending debugging is taking place and my anger and frustration goes through the roof. And what I really hope is that I'll be fortunate enough to say the same things and enjoy the similar “problems” also 20 years from now. I truly am thankful for what I do.

Next twenty

All in all, it's almost incomprehensible how much the tech industry and Software Development have changed in the last twenty years. Predicting the next 20 is definitely not an easy - if possible at all - task. In the mid 2000s, I read an article about the future of jobs, where the author made a fascinating statement: "In the future, being online will be so ingrained in our society that it will be hard to disconnect." I remember thinking what a silly fella that is and how exaggerated idea he has. But fast-forward into 2023 and IT IS our reality. And it happened much faster than anyone expected. Maybe even more than the author himself.

So see you again in 2043. I will be a real old man then right? Nevertheless, please don’t hesitate to talk to me if our paths cross. It's possible that I might be able to tell you some interesting stories about the Software Development industry from the past 40 years. Until then, let me celebrate my first successful twenty years in the business and extend my wishes to all of us for an even greater next 20 - in whatever field we plan to star.

*At the day of the writing

**This is fiction

Appendix

• I can imagine that someone who started, say, in 1983, meaning 20 years before me, must have had a funny feeling reading this. Just as I probably will 20 years from now, reading an article describing the "prehistoric" environment of Software Development of the 2020s.
• The initial draft of this article was reviewed and refined by AI. Absolutely ridiculous idea twenty years ago.
• In 2003, there were no phones with cameras. The picture from 2003 was captured using one of the latest technological advancements to make its way into commercial use: the digital camera. This particular one was Mercury Digital Cam Pro which boasted a maximum resolution of 800x600 pixels.. The 2023 picture was taken by Nokia X20 (that's a somewhat unexpected choice in 2023, isn't it?). This device features a front camera with 64 Mpx resolution and hardware spec approximately 6x superior to my expensive developer computer from 2005. Yeah, and selfie was not a term in 2003 too, my young friend.