All the stuff!

A recent visit to the dentist got me observing and thinking. My thought was "Wow, look at all the stuff!"

The difference between the practice of dentistry and the practice of programming can be measured by the difference in stuff.

Compared to a developer (programmer, geek, whatever title you want), a dentist is burdened with a large quantity of stuff, much of it expensive.

First, the dentist (and this was a single practitioner, not a collection of dentists) has an office. That is, a physical space in a building. Not a randomly-assigned space as in a co-working office, but a permanently assigned space. A dentist needs a permanently assigned space, because the practice of dentistry requires a bunch of things.

Those things include an operating room (one can argue that this is an office within the office) with the specialized dentist chair, the specialized lamp, X-ray emitter, tools, tray for tools, mobile stand to hold the tray for the tools, sink and counter-top, hose with suction, water squirter, and other items I cannot readily identify.

The larger office has a receptionist area with receptionists (two of them!), patient files, folders (to hold the files), cabinets (to hold the folders), computers, printers, phones, chairs and desks, and general office supplies. It also has a waiting room with chairs, tables, lamps, potted plants, a television, magazines, wastebaskets, and Muzak.

Programming, on the other hand, needs the following items: a laptop computer with a certain amount of processing power and storage, an internet connection, and the rest of the internet. And a place to sit with a connection for power. Maybe a cell phone.

Now, the "rest of the internet" can hold a lot of stuff. Probably more than the few items in the dentist office. And even if we limit that set to the things that are needed by a programmer (editor, compiler, a few other tools, Twitter and Skype, and a browser), the number of items for each practice may be about the same.

But the programmer, in my mind (and I will admit that I am biased), has the more convenient set of stuff. It all fits in the laptop, and can be packed up and moved at a moment's notice. And programmers do not need permanent offices.

I suspect that we will achieve the "officeless office" before we achieve the "paperless office", and the move to the officeless office will occur in professions. Certain professions (probably the newer ones) will move to the officeless office. Brand-new professions may start that way. Some professions may lag, and some may never move out of their permanent offices.