only != lead

It has taken me so long to get back into blogging. I think mainly because I just wasn't feeling up to it. Today though, things at the office have me wanting to rant.

We get this e-mail today about business cards. The rule at our company says that lead programmers can have business cards printed. I am not a lead programmer, therefore I do not get business cards. Which is fine with me, but determining that I am not a lead programmer is quite a problem!

I am the only programmer working on my project. One would think, if there are no other programmers, then, I would have to be the lead. However, this is not the case. My lead programmer does no programming at all. Projects that have more than one programmer assigned have a lead programmer that actually does programming. So one cannot assume that the lead programmer is never writing code. Then, to make matters even more confusing, there are projects where the only programmer is considered to be the lead.

At my company, everyone is given the title: Application Developer. Which could mean that you are the lead or not. There is no formal distinction. The only way you can determine your place is if you ask. And asking makes you look like an ass...so no one asks...except me of course because I don't care.

Meh!