I went to the grocery store today. I wanted ice cream. No, you don’t understand- I really needed it! This is vital stuff. It’s not just the chips and coke that us programmers have a steady diet of. Staples are nice, but when I need serious inspiration it’s Edi’s Mint Chocolate Chip for me. How else will I complete my project on time? So I get to the checkout counter and would you believe it, they want me to pay for it. ARGGGGG!!! Isn’t my need enough? Why should I have to pay?
It’s like all of those newbie’s that swarm all over you on the support group sites. They all want something. Everybody wants my stuff…
Wow, does that sound familiar. You know, it seems like the whole world has elevated the two M’s to a whole new level (M²: It’s all about Money and Me). Not on my server you don’t! I’m putting my foot down. This time there’s no more talking teamwork. I want action. You guys are going to work as a team or you are all hitting the road. (I can hear the complaints now. “Moralizing Twit! #@%$#@%$.” Come on, with a BLOG title like “Social Engineering for the Techie,” you expected code bits?)
Ok, none of you work for me. Heck, I’m just a programmer, so nobody actually works for me. Lets stop talking teamwork and remember how we got here. I for one had lots of teachers. I had friends who raced code with me. (Meaning that we competed for the title of fastest neural network implementations, and so on.) I’ve borrowed the code of programmers long gone from the company. I might even owe a few nods to SAP for interesting bits I’ve seen in their code.
Looks like I’m in debt up to my eye balls. How will I ever pay for all of the “Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream” that I’ve been getting free samples of? All I can do is give something back. With eleven years of coding in SAP (Basis, Functional… 20 in IT), I must have some assets that I can give back. So daily, I give the newbies a chance to pick my brain. I can’t actually do much for the guys who got me where I am. Most of them are up the food chain from me anyway. Dan (Doc) for instance was one of my greatest mentors. I don’t even know where he is now. Where ever that is, he is surely boot strapping someone. If emulation is the highest praise, then I’m going to keep on praising Doc. I hope you’ll join me and give back.
One last thing. You newbies, don’t think that you are left out. Everyone knows something that no one else knows. Watch for a chance to boot strap someone else and more than anything else, remember that everyone needs encouragement.
Places to Explore
Discussions:
Talking About Community Rules – Help your ITToolBox community get better!
WIKI:ABAP:Sap-abap:
ABAP Documentation for Newbies – Help the new programmers get their feet on the ground by posting helpful hints and life’s lessons learned(LLL)! This was originally intended for Newbies to share LLL, but they may indeed need some help getting started.
If you see something really cool out in ITToolBox land, write me and perhaps I’ll drop a note in the “Places to Explore” section of my next column. Got a topic that needs attention. Maybe I’ll write about it. I’d sure love to discuss it with you.
Neal Wilhite (wilhiten-at-aol-dot-com)
Letters from a Mountain Top 