Matured by time

Last Saturday was short and dark when the pop of the cork sends a ripple to the silence. I’ve uncorked a VanDenBeld BQ. The deep auburn wine is matured in french oak barrels. These barrels held the young wine until it was ready for the world. It also named the wine. Barrique is the french name for that type of barrel. Or just BQ for friends. It the type of wine that you smell with your eyes closed, and peal off all the layers. Let the wine roll in your glass, to see the light paint als different shades of red. And then the first sip. It’s intense, and combines mature tannins, kind vanilla and playful ripe fruit. Its a wine to explore, on its own. With food and with friends. All that will be happening today.?

I have to admit that I disappointed myself just for the weekend. I lost my temper because our junior did something that I thought was incredibly stupid. The poor bastard got scolded and had to redo the testing. And I already know that those tests?will prove that the solution has to be redone again. Double work for one solution, super inefficient. This fine individual joint our team to help out. I recognise the breed. I can smell the ambition. I recognised the breed. Confident if not cocky with a good whiff of know-it-all. And it’s eerie to see so much of my younger self in that person. When you have only two solution to the all the worlds problems you bound to be always right. I’m sure there’s a meme about that.?

Rolling another sip of wine in my mouth I remember when I almost vomited into the bin. I was working late on a special project. For days I’d been slaving away on a program to re-calculate the revenue recognition. I was coached along the way by our UNIX/PERL guru. This was my first steps into very complex routines and calculations. There had been several iterations and with each iteration the business had new ideas. Outward I was still confident and on top of things but to be honest I got a bit wobbly on the inside. The solution had become a bit to complex for me. The guru asked if I was ready for the last iteration. And I told him I was. I reviewed the code one last time. I checked my test results one more time. And then told him that I was ready for the production run. The update in the live system. The program ran smooth. No errors. All good. Until I found out that I deleted all the data of the subscriptions. Gone. Kaput. Erased. Blind panic made my stomach shrink to the size of a walnut and I had to swallow my lunch a second time. The guru let me soak in the panic and complete absence of options. After I sat down, defeated and devoid of hope. He asked if he should put the backup back. I nearly fainted with relieve.?

The BQ starts out as grape juice. You know the stuff you give kids or teetotallers. But then over time it become wine. First the tannins are rough and the flavour is harsh but it needs to caressed by the oak. Coached if you will, to become this amazing wine. And the wine maker keeps a keen eye on all the barriques to makes sure this years batch turns out as delicious as the perilous years.?

And that is what I forgot. Being in the business for so long I simply forgot that I didn’t start out this way. But I grew to become who I am today. I made many mistakes, and I’ve had great teachers along the way. Teachers who put up with my arrogance cause they recognised the breed. I make a mental note help our junior coming monday. But for now, I’ll pour another round of BQ.

The craftsman’s origin is the apprentice

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Till next time