Damien's writeup is well worth a read, esp. by programmers who want to know what it takes to get to a high level of proficiency. The Iris work appears to have been a critical experience in preparing Damien to write Couch. Anyone who wants to become a great programmer should read this and emulate his example.
I was at Iris around that time too, and went through the IBM slow-death. I really felt like we had to spend at least one whole day per week (maybe more) dicking around with HR stuff. Career objectives, self-eval, performance reviews, peer reviews.
Facilities and IT systems were a horror show too. I spent 2 whole days registering with various internal websites, filling out forms, getting permissions - just trying to get rid of an unwanted monitor. At Iris you'd just put unwanted stuff outside your office and it would be gone the next day.
Funny, losing the amazing Iris tech-bubble perks kind of sucked, but it was really the daily "being an employee" overhead and red-tape that made IBM unbearable.
I was at Iris around that time too, and went through the IBM slow-death. I really felt like we had to spend at least one whole day per week (maybe more) dicking around with HR stuff. Career objectives, self-eval, performance reviews, peer reviews.
Facilities and IT systems were a horror show too. I spent 2 whole days registering with various internal websites, filling out forms, getting permissions - just trying to get rid of an unwanted monitor. At Iris you'd just put unwanted stuff outside your office and it would be gone the next day.
Funny, losing the amazing Iris tech-bubble perks kind of sucked, but it was really the daily "being an employee" overhead and red-tape that made IBM unbearable.