Lord of the Files

I started this blog after failing to generate any interest for a book proposal I submitted to a myriad of publishers specializing in either academic or technical publications. This was back in 2007, after returning to North America from four months living and traveling through sub-Saharan Africa. That jarring experience motivated me to try taking a couple of papers I had published in Software Engineering Notes and expanding them into a book about the human factors of programmers (instead of programming). In hindsight, the working title (White Trash Software Engineer) may have scared away the academic publishers, while the lack of technical content may have scared away the other publishers. Falling through the cracks has been somewhat of a recurring theme in my professional endeavours; as someone who likes to use both sides of his brain and favours interdisciplinary research, it can be tough to categorize me and my message. Or to find an appreciative audience.

The company that I started (Backstage) back in 1996(!) was acquired in September of 2010 by RealNetworks, and is now a studio in their GameHouse division. Backstage didn't really take off until I quit trying to be an academic and started devoting all of my attention to growing a company in 2007. It really is true that you can't be a part-time entrepreneur.

This blog now contains excerpts from the book Lord of the Files: Essays on the Social Aspects of Software Engineering, self-published in 2011. Files, not Flies. Most of the chapters in the book started out as entries in this blog. The gratifying experience of running Backstage through its emergence as a successful social gaming company also found its way into the book.

People like to belong to communities that both identify and set them apart from the rest. My book provides an alternative to both the geek culture that dominates computer science, and the default counter-culture of open source software development and companion zealotry exhibited by the likes of Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds. Lord of the Files while embodying a punk esthetic, was written for the intelligent programmer with a sense of humor, social skills, and a cultural center that extends well beyond Star Trek, an ugly pony tail, and “Windows sucks”. If that resonates, this could be your brand; a badge of passive aggressive frustration with the pigeon-hole that society has reserved for us and its promulgation from within by a small minority. I am not a socially retarded, illiterate eunuch. I am angry but compassionate; disappointed but optimistic; divorced but in love. I can do and teach. I am good at what I do, but refuse to do it for free. I wrote this book because nobody was speaking for me. Not even Jaron Lanier.

Other than my editor (the quite remarkable Grenfell Featherstone, who helped me tone down the private angst and find a better title), the first person to read my book in its entirety was my girlfriend's mother. It made her laugh, and she tells me she genuinely enjoyed the book. As a psych nurse, I think she liked how much of my emotions and feelings come through in each of the self-contained essays.

According to Grenfell, I wrote a book that speaks to a wider audience than just programmers. However, I hope it finds an audience with programmers, not because I need the money or the fame, but because I think the message is sorely lacking in our industry. Namely, that to be a good software engineer, you first and foremost need to be a good person.

Buy it today at CreateSpace, or Amazon.com

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