Software Developers and Architects Rank in Top 10 Least Stressful Jobs

That headline is not a joke. CNNMoney just published a list of the top 10 least stressful jobs according to findings from PayScale.com and believe it or not, software developer ranked at number four with software architect coming in at number eight.

In my opinion, it appears that the reasoning has more to do with the job descriptions as opposed to the actual day-to-day assignments.

For example, software developers are considered to be in a low stress job because they 'get to work on a flexible schedule and set their own timelines.'

For software architects, a day in the office is like a walk in the park because 'their forte is designing software for cool new products and computers, or creating new versions of software for new computer operating systems.'

I'm sure that thorough research was done for the rankings and for the most part, the job descriptions are accurate. However, I have to wonder if the majority of architects and developers would agree with the findings.

Of course, my exposure to these audiences is a bit skewed when you consider that more often than not they're exploring governance after a project has gone awry.

With this in mind, following is my top five list citing the factors that could tip these rankings from least stressful to most stressful.

1. Overseas development team doesn't follow policies.
2. Security breach in the cloud.
3. Corporate merger fails to integrate different IT systems.
4. Computer glitch makes front-page news.
5. Redundant development efforts delay product ship date.

These issues are actually quite common and all-too-familiar to IT architects and developers.

I'd like to think that the rankings are based on companies that already have governance in place - which, of course, leads to less stressful jobs.

Got any additions to the list or thoughts on the CNNMoney ranking of the top 10 least stressful jobs? I'd especially like to hear from you if you're a software architect or developer.

Drop me a line at jeff@weblayers.com or post your comments below.

IBM WebSphere 7.0 is a 10

As you probably know, IBM just rolled out its biggest release of middleware ever with the introduction of WebSphere 7.0. It's been a while seen we've seen such a massive, full scale WebSphere upgrade with 6.0 versions of various flagship products dating back to 2004.

While the IT community may be closely evaluating the new version of WebSphere ESB or the DataPower security appliances, this latest release actually speaks to three significant business challenges that are affecting many organizations today and that are being addressed by SOA, cloud computing and BPM.

The first challenge is the architecture itself. Remember that SOA is an architecture and not a product. Think of it as the foundation to a house - without a sound architecture, it's impossible to build anything on it. Given the amount of mergers, acquisitions, consolidations, global expansion and/or contraction that has occurred in the past year alone, the IT architecture really is the foundation that will help sustain the organization as it evolves.

For those considering venturing into the cloud, there are still a lot of discussions around security and standards. However, if executed properly, a hybrid computing model that supports some applications and services in the cloud could significantly reduce costs.

The third challenge, where BPM is most valuable according to IBM, is in helping the line of business respond more quickly to real-time events. From my experience and I'm sure IBM would agree, these real-time events can range from executing millions of financial transactions per second to establishing the processes that keep a hospital emergency room up and running 24/7, for example.

Within the BPM suite, IBM has upgraded its integrated governance and policy management tools. As a long time IBM business partner, WebLayers will continue to complement the WebSphere governance offerings including the latest release of WebSphere Registry and Repository. The Channel Insider story sums it up well, "IBM tapped a small group of select software and business partners to build out development tools and application management governance products that round out its BPM and SOA life cycle management offerings."

Obviously, what really stands out for me in this new WebSphere stack are the governance offerings. Much like the house metaphor, governance across the entire infrastructure will help create a more solid foundation - one that will accelerate the speed at which way that SOA, cloud and BPM address business issues. Of course, selling these IT concepts and products to the business is a matter of articulating the business benefits and steering away from the jargony dialog.

Regardless, IBM's WebSphere 7.0 is big news indeed and speaks to the strength of the entire middleware portfolio - which is probably why not many folks were too surprised to learn about WebSphere's 14 percent growth in sales as reported in this past week's earnings announcement.

Son a Glitch - WebLayers Exposes IT Failures

There's this old saying in technology that if you can't simply and logically explain to your grandmother what the software does than you probably won't be able to sell it to a CEO.

Yet even when it comes to speaking with experienced IT pros, there's still a bit of confusion as to what governance is and does to and for the infrastructure.

No longer limited to SOA and no longer confused with compliance, IT governance is a way to mitigate risks, increase transparency and reduce costly policy violations and coding errors. But you can read more about that on our website.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, these videos bring governance to life in these real world scenarios.

Even your grandmother will approve.

And if you have ideas for other videos, drop me a line at jeff@weblayers.com

Five ways to get your employees on board with IT governance

Given that we've just ended the quarter, I'm sure a lot of you can relate to those last minute contract signings. So I started thinking about how technology makes its way into a company.

Of course, there are the more instant and obvious hits like Google or IBM Lotus Notes. But when it comes to enterprise software, especially governance, there's much more to it.

You can certainly talk about the value of the software, its differentiators, how it stacks up against the competition, and how early and often it will deliver ROI. Moving along the sales cycle, you show a demo, perhaps analyze some artifacts and uncover a few gaps in the enterprise architecture. And if all goes well, the deal closes.

What happens next - actually realizing ROI on the technology - can be a tricky thing. And I'm not talking about the actual performance of the software. More often than not, the corporate culture will dictate the success of the IT initiative.

It's one thing for an employee to ask for new technology and it's quite another when a manager insists on change. In fact, I.T. governance is probably one of the more challenging shifts that a company will make. While I can go on about cost savings, transparency, risk mitigation, etc., I'm also aware of the misconceptions about governance from a developer's perspective.

Along with the basic fact that change can be difficult, there's the belief that big brother is watching every keystroke or that the boss is looking for evidence of policy violations. In my experience, the way that governance is most successful in a company is when the architects, developers and managers socialize the concept before any change takes place

The easiest place to start is in the Center of Excellence. However, it's not the only place to start, especially if a COE doesn't already exist in your company. While each company has its own way of communicating that's reflective of its personality, here's five ways to introduce a new technology initiative into the company culture:

1. Assign representatives from every level and each team that will be involved in the entire process from strategy to vendor evaluations and right through to deployment and ROI assessment.

2. Host regular and informal discussions yet make sure that there isn't a skewed balance of power in the room.

3. Facilitate peer-to-peer discussions that are led by one of the representatives involved in the initiative so that open discussions can take place and specific concerns remain anonymous.

4. Make sure that senior management openly supports the new initiative and publicly recognizes the teams that are involved in making it happen.

5. Don't forget to keep the teams assembled especially after the initial deployment. This is where honest feedback and consistent meetings about the progress and the value of the initiative are critical to the project’s on-going success.


Adopting a new technology can add an unexpected culture shock to certain teams or individuals in the company. However, remember that the faster it's up and running equates to shorter learning curves and a quicker return on the investment.

- Jeff

Could the TD Bank Computer Glitch Been Prevented?

If you're a TD Bank customer, this has not been a good week. You already know that a computer glitch led to a delay in updating account transactions. This also means that customers' automatic payments weren't so automatic which is less than convenient as the first of the month is a pretty busy time. Larry Dignan over at ZDNet covers the situation well in his blog post.

This is just one of many recent glitches that have made headlines. Can they all be prevented? No. Can they be minimized? Yes. Absolutely yes. On this blog, I've addressed this issue in the past and yet again it raises the question about the level of governance that's currently actively used by I.T. departments.

While most I.T. teams believe in the value of governance, I'm going to venture a guess that TD Bank has it in place. However, what I'm finding from conversations with other financial services companies is that governance is often put into place for certain projects or by specific departments which leads to performance gaps. The other issue that frequently comes up is that governance is one of the last steps before the software is released. Seems that it would make sense to put in governance as the software code is being written so that policy violations and mistakes don't make their way through the entire infrastructure and potentially wreak havoc on consumers' bank accounts and credit reports.

Let me also say that while I’m not an expert on the TD Bank situation, I realize that now is not the time for finger pointing. the glitch is traced to the recent merger which is no small undertaking when you consider all of the systems and applications that need to be integrated.

However, how many of you in the financial services industry are thinking, 'whew, wouldn't want to be TD Bank today,' yet realizing that you could be the next headline. And for consumers, you're probably also double checking your balances regardless of where your money is located.

I understand that the TD Bank team has been working around the clock to address this issue so hats off to them as they have a monumental task ahead of them.

Do you think the TD Bank issue could have been avoided? Share your thoughts at jeff@weblayers.com