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Cancer Survival for Software Developers
Paul Pareti writes "Doug Reilly has published an affecting, personal piece about Surviving Cancer if you're a Programmer. You don't have to be a sufferer to benefit from reading it, especially his conclusions, including the perspective-lengthening advice: 'Make sure you are not indispensable!'"
...you will never be promoted.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
I found the article a little "wieird", If I found myself with terminal cancer, my family and myself would be on the top of the list. I would spend every last waking momement with my kids. I would take every precaution to say to them what needed to be said and done, The LAST thing on my list would be source codes and clients...
Sure it sounds WRONG, but take a step back, and think about it. I'm going to die in 6 months, sorry ozzy/harriet daddy has to go take care of some stuff at the office, dont worry, i got 6 months left.
Unless ofcourse its Curable, which then, I would have to balance the two a little more carefuly.
-- I Dont Deserve A Sig I Have Bad Karma
If I'm going to die of cancer I could give a shit less how my employer makes out when I'm dead.
I'm dying...UH OH, I'd better make sure all my code is documented. That's ridiculous.
The following points from the article should be followed regardles of having a potentially terminal illness:
* Make certain that source code is where it should be.
* Clearly document anything "strange" in the source code you deliver. .
* Make certain you have a "buddy" developer who knows what you are doing.
If nothing else, the first two are essential if you want to read your _own_ source code after a year or two's time and figure out what is going on.
1. Call boss: "I quit"
2. Sell house, possessions.
3. Move to tropical island paradise.
4. When the pain sets in - gun to head.
5. Afterlife????
A few months after my mother died from breast cancer, my boss was harrassing me for not being willing to put in 80+ hours per week because I was spending too much time with family. When he told me I needed to work his way or take the highway, I took the highway. My dad and I took a road trip to from California to Idaho to bury mom's asshes with her folks, I went back to school for a year and got a better paying job two years after I left my old company. Unless you work for a great company that cares about the employees, you got to deal with the jerks.
6. Prophet
In the words of my former boss: "Graveyards are full of people who thought they were indispensable"
Res publica non dominetur
Of course you would. If you were currently dying of cancer. He says very clearly that if your case is terminal, that's what you should do. The article isn't for those people
It's for people with either curable cancer, or cancer that is long-term treatable (will likely kill you in the next decade, but you'll be fine for at least a few more years). People in those situations can't afford to quit work entirely (not with those Dr bills, trust me!), and in all likelyhood shouldn't give up their normal lives. But it does mean that they have a better-than-average chance of dying, and should probably take a few precautions just in case.
Yes, if you hate your job, hopefully something like that would be a wake-up call to change your situation. But if you're fine with your job, and are most likely not dying anytime soon, quitting is not necessarily the obvious solution.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
Yeah, but the article isn't aimed at people who are actively dying. It's aimed at people who probably aren't going to die, but do have a better chance than the average person under 50 years old.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
I am in the same boat as the author of the article. I found, however, the conclusions and advice to be rather awkward if not just plain weird. To be honest, I doubt the accuracy or sincerity of the author. Sounds a bit James Frey-ish to me.
Here is how it works... You get diagnosed with cancer and then you freakin' forget ANYTHING about work. Period. I don't frickin' care if you are the president or Sheryl Crow. You take care of yourself and your family. Managing your work is just below the bottom of any priority or list you may have.
Been there, done that with too many family members and others in our support network. The article is pure sci-fi/fantasy/victim-hood non-sense. I don't think that in my life that I have ever been offended by anything, but the editor who put this on Slashdot is getting pretty close to being the first to do so.
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
A lot of comments here are along the lines that if they were dying they would screw work and spend time with their families. I gotta ask - why would it take your impending death to spend this time ?
Every day you go to work before your child gets up and get home after they've gone to sleep is a day that you both lose. Every saturday you spend getting those TPS reports done is another day of play and growth that you will miss with your child.
An earlier poster said that they would spend the time making sure that their kids know what they need to. That kinda implies they aren't doing it now. People say that they would spend the time with their family.
Maybe I've got the wrong end of the stick - maybe you already do that. But to me, every day I live is one day closer to the end of my life. I only work to make sure that I can keep my family safe, warm, healthy and educated. Once I've worked enough to make that happen, the rest of the time is for them, because each day is one less day that I have to share with them.
A few years back, I had a close coworker who was diagnosed with cancer. He decided that he wanted to work, be productive, and fight it as best he could, even though his chances were slim. He came to work every day he could and did his job, even when he was losing hair and using a laptop from the hospital bed.
After he died, our team was devistated. I'm not sure we accomplished more than simple maintenance activities for months afterwards. Even though he'd tried to put things in order, it was still tremendously difficult to fill where he'd been. It probably took a good year before things felt on track again.
It's strange even now, running across his name in code or tucked away in a database somewhere. I support his few remaining applications, which some day will be retired as well. The things we leave behind . . .
Good comments. I even have a copy of the mentioned "source code" cartoon somewhere in my files.
My mother died of breast cancer 6 years ago. She was diagnosed in her mid/late 50s and insisted that we not tell anyone. She didn't want to be viewed or treated differently. When her cancer recurred, her doctor called it "terminal recurring breast cancer" and gave her 6 months to a year to live. She lived 8 more years after the reappearance and died of cancer at age 80.
When first diagnosed and for most of the time following that the web didn't exist but she did take advantage of other resources like medical libraries. Research is important as the author attests. Equally important, however, is finding the right experts.
My mother saw one doctor who, after a cursory exam and x-ray viewing, declared that the cancer had spread and had eaten away part of her ribs and said, "come back next week and we'll start chemo". No discussion of options (other than joining a statistical study the Dr. was involved in). She saw another doctor who spent some time on the case. She saw the same x-rays and patient but was able to determine that the darkness on the x-ray was not due to "dissolved ribs" but due to dense soft-tissue blocking the x-ray and that the range-of-motion issues were due to the tumor. A couple months of Tamoxifen and the tumor had shrunk to golf-ball size and was removed with relative ease. The range-of-motion issues started easing within a couple weeks of starting Tamoxifen.
Also, don't get complacent. My mother had a mastectomy so she didn't think cancer when she started having discomfort raising her arm on that side. She assumed that if she did get cancer it would be on the remaining breast. Wrong. If you have cancer, be extra careful about continuing checkups even after you are "cured".
My dad got prostate cancer which was discovered due to urinary symptoms. Routine screening wasn't done at that time and through careful research and good medicine he lived 13 more years. He died last year at age 76. With earlier detection he might still be with us.
So for the rest of us, get those exams. I'm in my 40s but get regular PSA and prostate checks due to the family history. I also get a full body check for skin-cancer every couple years (from birth to age 18 I lived in the Mojave desert sun with my hair turning white and my skin turning brown every summer - we didn't know from sunscreen back then). When I turn 50 I'll probably be first in line for the colonoscopy. If I do get cancer, I want to catch it early.
~~~~~~~
"You are not remembered for doing what is expected of you." - Atul Chitnis
With all the deep sympathy for anyone with a serious disease, I find the ideas in the article ridiculous at best, appaling at worst.
To put it bluntly - who gives a flying fig about employers convenience, when life and health of individual are at stake. If only a few years are left for one to live, it is far better to spend them with loved ones or doing something that is important to the person (or makes a difference to the world, or both) then wasting your time writing useless code for someone's profit. Unless of course this happens to be "what is important to that person" - and then I would strongly suggest reviewing priorities, while there is still time.
Pretending that there is such a thing as "work ethics" and "loyalty" on part of employees when nothing is given or guaranteed by employers is both silly and dangerous.
Excellent article, and I agree with everything he wrote. I've thought about this too, as although I'm still quite young (26) I know from family history and my own personality I'll work until I literally drop dead. It would drive me insane to just sit at home "retired" because I love my work so much.
Don't get me wrong, I don't really care what my company does or doesn't do after I'm gone, but I have some great friends here and I do care quite a bit about them. I wouldn't want to suddenly drop tons of work on them when I know a 10 minute conversation or copying code would have saved the day.
Perhaps it's a bit selfish, but I would like to leave the impression when I'm gone that "Yeah, he was a great guy" rather than "He was a great guy, but now we're screwed". I try not to leave projects unfinished and I see no reason why my career as a whole needs to be any different.
Java developer out of work due to the big dot-bomb crash of 2001; had my fiance's insurance. We got married in September, had a honeymoon, Sept 11th happened on the day we were supposed to come back. I'd been having night sweats for months and had lost a lot of weight for the wedding; wasn't eating much, but thought that fat guys sweat a lot at night, so didn't think much of it. Lost 60 pounds. Night sweats. Drenched the bed. After our honeymoon, I started having CHILLS. and Night Sweats. Crazy stuff. Teeth chattering, etc. I got to the doctors and he said I had Montezuma's Revenge and... something else. Hepatitis? Blood work was coming up weird. He ran more tests then sent me to an oncologist at the "Cancer Center". "Don't be scared of the name," he told me. "It just says Cancer. Doesn't mean you have cancer." My oncologist was great. I had a lump under my armpit. She and the surgeon could feel it. I couldn't tell. Married for 2 weeks. No job. Whee, fun. I had a bone marrow test; no cancer there. Surgery told us it was Hodgkin's Disease. Later to be renamed by Larry David as "The Good Hodgkin's" [ http://tinyurl.com/lpcsz ] He's a crackup. Stage 3B. It's spread across my chest and into my spleen and liver. Curable, they told me. On the roulette wheel of cancers, you want Hodgkin's. No one in my family had ever had it. A blood aunt had Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. A non-blood aunt also had had NHL. My mom kept a clean home - they say that many Hodgkin's cases come from clean homes. That bitch. :-)
I was told 6 months of chemo and then radiation treatment. In the meantime, I was frantically looking for a job, but no one was hiring.
Had my first chemo, then 2 days later an interview. Java development. They wanted to hire me, but I told him, "Look, I have to be honest with you. I can easily do what you ask, but I just started chemotherapy. It's curable they tell me, but I need one day off every 2 weeks for treatment; they only do treatment on a weekday. I just had my first treatment 2 days ago (true) and I'm right here, fine, and coherent."
My future manager really liked me and agreed, but I wasn't paid top dollar for my position. Who cares; we had 2 incomes and I had something to think about instead of mulling my "doom" in the apartment. They were fantastic to me, but have been out of business for 3 years (through no fault of mine - they were bought out and everyone was laid off or forced to move to Utah).
I had ABVD chemo on Mondays. In retrospect, I should have scheduled for Thursdays or Fridays. I was violently ill on Wednesdays and couldn't properly taste anything until the next Wednesday. Of course, that didn't stop me from eating and my mom said I'm a miracle - the first person to gain weight while on chemo. :-) That bitch. :-)
I got a potocatheter in my chest; if you're going to get Chemo, that's the f*cking Rolls Royce of chemotherapy. Just plug right into the chest.
Chemo ended up being 8 months, but no radiation. I involunterily vomited every time they injected me with saline to "clean the pipes". Told me that the old people didn't notice it, but since I was young, it was bad. I still can't swallow salt water without a little retching.
After 8 months, the PET Scan showed it was clear. Gone. Vanished. I was good to go. Remission. Had cat scans to follow up every 3 months and then 6 months after that. After 5 years, I'll be considered cured.
Regarding the weight thing; I was scared to lose weight for the last 3 years. I realized that I subconsciously related weight loss to having cancer. Saw a therapist and she helped me move on with a little advice. Told me that I was "easy because I'm a self-realized hypocondriac". She's was right. I eventually joined the Dr. Siegel "Cookie Diet" and lost 70 pounds.
On the cancer side, I just had one of my 6-month cat scans and bloodwork. I'm relatively clear; nothing is there, but the radiologist did spot a 2 mm item in on
I've never really understood the "make yourself indispensible" mindset anyway. I've always tried my best to make myself as unnecessary as I can, by making the equipment, the users, etc. as reliable and self-sufficient as possible. Not only does it make my job less stressful in the long run, but it also shows up in others' assessment of my skills, which is where real job security (or at least most of it) comes from. Of course it's never possible to make myself completely dispensible in the real world, and that's where the rest of my job security comes from.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
That's a very noble point of view...one that I would definitely share should it ever happen to me. However, it's just good business etiquette to make sure your employer is up to date on all of your source, documentation, etc because cancer isn't the only thing that can incapacitate you. Certainly there are more ways to leave this world than I can dream up so I find myself asking, why would you only practice this if you had a terminal disease? Getting hit by a bus comes to mind. People die suddenly every day, people who have jobs, spouses, kids....a future. To everyone who thought that they would follow suit with the original author, try to get over your belief that 'it could never happen to you' and clue in and make sure that you're not indespensible.
I think that this is the whole point that so many people are missing. I kept working/going to school during chemo because I loved what I did, and not doing it would depress me enough to interfere with my treatment. If I were some corporate drone with a job I hated, then I probably would have taken it as a sign to get out - but luckily, I've worked hard since high school to make sure I'm never in that position. I know what kind of impact I want to have on the world, I know how I want to get there, and I love everything about it. So cancer had no effect on my career plans whatsoever - although it did cause me to make one decision in my personal life that I would not have made otherwise, that did slightly affect my career. But only slightly.
Some people do need to keep working through treatments, and working a sucky job during treatment would just make a bad situation worse.
If you don't love what you're doing, don't wait for cancer to get out of it. Just like people are saying that you should comment your code whether you're dying or not - you should actively pursue a career that you would MISS if you had to give it up for chemo, whether or not that chemo is imminent.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
As a testicular cancer survivor, I agree with most of the article. I was fortunate enough to have an employer who allowed me a six month leave of absence during my treatment. Thoughout that time, (before blogs) I kept an email correspondence with family, friends and co-workers. I went through two major surgeries and two rounds of intense chemo. That was now three years ago and by following through with the recommended followup diagnostics, I am still "cured". The down-side of this is that I had a great employer and medical plan. The medical bills for my six month treatment came to over $110,000 USD. If I was not on salary and insured, I would have been financially devestated. I was also extremely fortunate that my employer allowed me to come back after six months in the same position and same pay as I had before the leave. I don't think many people have that opportunity. So the jist of my response is, realize that extreme circumstances can happen to you and if/when they do, you will be amazed as to how anyone in your life will resond. (mostly in the postive)
After surgery to remove the primary tumor, I was faced with chemotherapy and a 50% chance of dying within two years. My first reaction was like many of yours: give up work and move home to be close to family and friends. Or, pack up and travel the world with my remaining days.
But then I realized that giving up work and moving home would be depressing. I'd just be a cancer victim sitting around, waiting to die. It's hard to have any more good times in such a grim situation.
And traveling the world wouldn't be much fun either. One of the problems when you're sick with cancer is that you don't feel good. It's not like the doctor says "you have two weeks to live" after which you feel fine for two weeks and then pass away in your sleep. No, when the end is that close it's a struggle just to stay comfortable and enjoy things like food and warmth. So traveling the world would mean feeling crappy in a foreign land surrounded by strangers.
So I decided that I liked where I was in my life and would keep doing what I liked doing. That meant continuing to work, continuing to meet new people, continuing to learn things and watch movies and play games. That meant trying to be a person plus cancer, rather than a person destroyed by cancer. Sure, my perspective changed. I straightened out my personal relationships and felt freer to express my own quirky personality.
Continuing with normal things helped me to survive chemotherapy and more surgeries. And with the help of a great employer and coworkers I continued to be productive -- a little bit on bad days and a lot on good days -- and feel good about myself. The benefit of working with computers was that I could be productive from home and the computer would wait patiently when I was hit with a bout of nausea or fatigue.
These days I'm feeling fine but I know that any day the cancer could rear its ugly head again. My motto is to go on with life as if you have two years to live. Don't panic and drop everything and curl up on the couch. But remember that you don't have forever to do the things you want to do.
AlpineR