Mission Statement For My Work As A Software Developer

I am an engineer. I apply analytic thinking to problems and find a pragmatic solution that isn’t a quick fix, but a lasting value.

I am part of a team. In my software development team, I communicate clearly and proactively. I thrive for consistency and integrity of the creations of my team.

I am a software craftsman. I am proud of my work and understand it as part of the creation of the community of software craftmanship, which I support.

I am and always will be a student. I will keep the beginners mind by playing and experimenting without the fear of failure. There will always be things I have to learn and I will make mistakes, which develop me.

I am an optimist and a realist. I always apply this mission statement in good faith and to achieve great results together with my team. In doing so, I am willing to learn and to teach. However, I acknowledge reality and respect mission statements of other people. Because I will not violate my mission statement, I will leave every situation where my core values are not shared.

I am a senior professional. I accept and comprehend the individual customer situation. I provide advice which can, but not has to be, used for making decisions by the customer. I accept that the customer will sometimes decide in favor of a quick fix rather than a sustainable but more expensive solution. I deal professionally with these decisions.

How To Hire Steven Schwenke

This is a guide on how to approach me regarding job offers.

tl;dr

Currently, I’m not actively searching for a new job. This article is meant to be a guide for people who are offering extraordinary jobs that I would be a perfect fit for.

Stevens Priorities

From most important to less important:

1. Content.

I want to do something useful, contribute to something great and add value while having a positive ecological and sociological impact.

2. Learning.

In everything I do, I want to develop myself and learn, focused but not restricted to technical topics. This includes communication, psychology and sociology because these contain the main forces behind how humans interact and work together.

3. Working conditions.

I need to have a large degree of freedom in what I am doing, being able to use my strengths and working partially from home.

4. Payment.

Of course, I expect a decent payment in respect to my experience and proactivity. However, payment is not my main motivator.

Note: The overall picture of a job is more important than single aspects. I don’t want to get rich while destroying the planet, but I also don’t want to starve to save it.

Location

I live near Brunswick, Germany, and intend to keep it that way. However, I do have years of experience in working remotely with distributed teams.

Part-Time Work

Under the condition of not being in competition with my employer, I can be hired for part-time work. This especially includes but is not restricted to

giving talks and workshops and mentoring / coaching / consulting in both technical as well as non-technical aspects.

Besides my main job, I am a solo entrepreneur and am allowed to write invoices.

Don’t Contact Me …

… if you would propose something that does not correlate with the descriptions above.

Contact Me …

… only if you think that I would be a perfect fit for a position that matches the criteria above at steven@stevenschwenke.de to organize a (virtual) meeting or phone call.

Past Mission Statements

These are my past mission statements.

Up Until April 2014

I want

• to contribute to the creation of great software,
• in doing so creating value that is useful in the long term and
• to redound to the advantage of the community.

I focus my energy on the things I can influence.

I am part of the solution.