Note the date above: I wrote this a long time ago. A great deal has changed since then, including a bit of maturation on my part. Still, this is the history of the site's name, so here it stays. Enjoy!

The name of this site comes from an experience I had while working for a company a few years back. I am somewhat out of touch with what is going on currently, though I have some acquaintances that continue to work there. I am writing this little history of my time there as an explanation of some of the things I do not like about corporate America in general, and as an explanation of the name of this site.

My time at this insurance programming job was my first experience working as a software engineer (really a monkey maintenance programmer) at a company with any kind of money backing it up, even if it was the 75th round of venture capital.

My experience there was a kind of double-edged sword. It was my first job as a programmer, so it was a good step for me; I needed it to spring me into a career. At the same time, however, it was my first introduction to nasty company politics and engineering teams being led by severely underqualified management. This was the beginning of a very cynical and bitter attitude toward corporate America, especially in the technology sector.

I must add as a sort of aside that I almost didn't get a job there. I remember very well the test I was given to see if I had sufficient programming skills. It was exceedingly simple, but that really only made me worry that I was missing something obvious. I was initially turned down as a candidate. I persisted and applied for another position, thus making clear my desire to work there (I suppose that this is impressive to suits. I really just wanted a job) and was eventually hired for the position that I originally wanted. I was told later that I was not initially chosen because they perceived that I was "overqualified" and would get bored too quickly. This is one of the few very accurate observations made by anyone in that company, and the person who made it (the only "upper" management that I respected) was later fired, presumably for being overqualified for his position: he made accurate observations, was well-liked by his employees, and did too much honest hard work.

So, what does all of this have to do with the web site's name? That's a somewhat longer story. I met a very dear friend at the company. We hit it off immediately with each other and with our incredible team leader. We loved to joke around, and we laughed a lot. We also got more work done than any other team in the company (though they will never admit it now). The office chairs that we had were particularly bouncy. So, when things got really funny, we would bounce up and down on our chairs and make funny noises. This was fun to us, as juvenile as it may sound, and it was harmless, especially coming from the most productive team. This small act of ours came to represent everything that I hate about corporate America.

In addition to learning that work well done is rewarded with a higher work load and that even well-funded companies make extensive use of unlicensed software, I immediately learned that loose cannons like ourselves inevitably suffer a loss of privileges. In the name of "fairness" we were not the only ones affected, and the entire company began to suffer an avalanche of policies coming into their inboxes. The first policy: no random noises. The second: no bouncing chairs. These, of course, were stated in the vaguest way possible, but to those who were the "offenders" it was clear what was meant.

Being a very fun-loving person, I found other outlets. For example, my friend and I began to make "Random Noises" screen savers. They were entirely visual, but we giggled incessantly at them while we worked. We were still very productive and still loved our jobs, partly because we had a lot of fun, and partly because our team leader did, too. Another outlet we found was intranet chats. We would spend probably an hour per day (not at once, just a few minutes here and there) chatting over the intranet. It was a good stress reliever, and was an absolute blast. Next policy: no chats.

I found still other outlets. The programming language we were using was a bastardization of Pascal. A part of the language was an identifier string that was never seen in any part of the running (real mode DOS--you may now shudder) application. I believe it was compiled out entirely, though I cannot be sure, since I never had much cause to understand the convoluted workings of a broken language that was based on several layers of translation, multiple arbitrary and pointless file and array length limitations, and a syntax that encouraged programming from the dark ages (I think I am the one who introduced the idea of breaking up a program into multiple procedures, and that eventually stopped working because it made the files too large for the compiler to handle).

I quickly realized the truth about the hidden identifier and began using it to make my co-workers laugh when they did code reviews and bug fixes. To this day many of the comments are still there. Some of these make me giggle to think about even now. Next policy: professional identifier strings (i.e., non-humorous). My longevity at the company can be partially attributed to the fact that the policy was not enforced.

There was one last thing my co-workers and I had left. We would occasionally break the monotony with crosswords and computer games, like Solitaire. This would go on for about 10 minutes, and then we would go back to work. Because of the ingeniously low cubicle walls and the tendency of certain pointy-haired individuals to peek over them, this practice was seen once and a policy was immediately handed down. No games. I hasten to add that I agree with this policy since it is so often abused, especially by a maintenance programmer or an employee with a similar skill level (remember, this was my very first programming job, and I was overqualified without a degree or anything remotely resembling an education in Computer Science). The problem here is that all of my other outlets were disappearing.

At this point I began to be very frustrated with the company, so our team began a contest. We wanted to see who could generate the most company policies over the course of a year. Day after day, another policy would come into our inboxes indicating (in generic language, so as to not draw attention to the repeat offenders) that our conduct was unacceptable. The idea of a contest apparently reached upper management, who managed to surprise me by adopting it as a policy! Their idea was to get some of the policies documented, and since they didn't really have a pattern or rationale for some of them, this was a good excuse to make their reactionary tactics seem fun. The competition was now official. I still won, hands down, without trying. Having fun, it would seem, was not part of the job description.

At about the same time, I began to get 90% of the work load that should have been spread across 3 entire teams. This is because I was extremely efficient at what I was doing. So, management noticed that I worked effectively and they also noticed that they didn't like me. This gave me an exceedingly bad attitude.

I began to cut back. I finished the work they gave me, but I missed a deadline. I started to slow down and take longer lunches. I figured that someone would eventually come and ask me what was wrong. I was right. I got a call into my manager's office. Two hours later, he hadn't said a thing and I just sat there beaming at him as though all was well. It was a by-the-book "let me tell you nothing so that the act of talking can cure whatever ills you have" talk. My manager went away relieved, and I went away fuming. Once more, I hasten to add a note to this: I did not handle things the way that I should have. I was just barely discovering what things were like in a big company, and I didn't know exactly what to expect or how to react. I would handle things much differently now.

The talk itself did the trick (from the manager's point of view) and the topic never came up again, so I didn't change my ways. I realized that if the only reward I got for work well done was more work and less money than people who were just starting out and had fewer skills, I wasn't going to do as much work anymore. This turned out to be a good survival tactic. I was able to last several months doing this.

Still, I wasn't as happy as I had been, and my friend wasn't either. We started talking about things the company needed. We were a couple of their most talented programmers, and they refused to put us into a position where our talents were best used. Several times our requests to be made part of the R&D team were denied while the company continued to hire outsiders onto that team. Seeing that our efforts through the front door were not working, we began lobbying for a "Tools Team", a team of programmers that would write tools for the maintenance programmers. It was a suggestion that sat around for about 5 or 6 months with no action whatsoever. It was badly needed, too, so we started taking our extra time writing tools anyway. They became widely used for a time, and that actually added a satisfying dimension to our jobs, until policies came around indicating that nobody was to use unauthorized tools, like ours.

I began looking for other work. Once I found a job elsewhere, I gave a day or two of notice and finished my current projects. During my notice period, my manager pulled me aside and asked what it would take to keep me on. He said he had a great "idea" that would be attractive to me. Why not, he suggested, create a special "Tools Team" and have me on it? Why not change the focus of my work to be better suited to my abilities? Why not pay me what I was worth (or at least something closer to it---Utah is not generally known for fair wages).

This was startling to me. It didn't startle me because it had never occurred to me, of course, but because he really believed that the ideas were his, though I had personally talked to him multiple times about it and been turned away. Though the team was created and became a very important part of the company (though lately it is losing ground, I hear) I left it anyway, and I am very glad that I did so.

The next company that I worked at (which shall remain nameless) was much smaller. I was one of two developers, and for a time I experienced the elation of learning new skills and stretching in new ways. I also learned that I had a talent for designing large object-oriented systems, which has been a tremendous asset to me. After the learning curve euphoria wore off, however, I began to see the same kind of hypocritical arrogance that I saw before, only this time it was closer to me. I lasted a lot longer than I would have thought possible at that company, but eventually I grew very tired of it all and left after having worked there for two years.

With each new working experience, I grow more and more tired of dealing with the hypocrisy and arrogant stupidity that seems to drive each company. It would appear that no matter how well a company starts out, no matter what the intentions, if it is trying to become part of the mainstream corporate system, the system becomes part of it instead. I believe that the system itself corrupts individuals and causes this kind of stuff to go on. I find it very disheartening indeed.

I am certain that there are exceptions. I just haven't worked for any of them. I know people who have, though, and I believe that they are sincere and that something better is out there. Still, in general, it would appear that corporate America is corrupt and stifling.

So, that explains the name of the site. Bouncing Chairs stands for much of what I believe about big company culture in America, and it stands for my undying idealism that something can and must change. It is a symbol of my voice, however puny or stupid sounding to some. It represents what I feel is right, and the disparity between that and what is currently real. That's the point of this site, and the cause that is Bouncing Chairs.

Update: 2006

Since this article was first written, I have gone back to school and completed a Ph.D. in Computer Science. While many of my stated dislikes about corporate America remain unchanged, I am finding that the extra educational decoration is giving me a shot at having far better experiences in industry. I worked, for example, as an intern at Google last Summer, and I have accepted a full-time job with them.

In stark contrast to what I relate above, I have nothing but good things to say about the way that Google operates as a company and the way that employees are treated there. It is a wonderful place to work, and I am thrilled to be going back. Those in charge are clearly and sincerely principles-driven and have a vision of the world that I can buy into without feeling like I am compromising any personal or religious morals. That, I believe, is unique.

Incidentally, California has much better weather than Utah.