Daniel Williams

I am what Scott Hanselman calls a "Dark Matter" Developer. Meaning I'm not a celebrity or influencer in the software world. I work on business to business tech, delivering solutions for clients. That's my job, and I enjoy it. My clients do not care one whit about the tech stack I use, just the results I deliver, which gives me and my team a good degree of freedom to design solutions we enjoy. I've always worked with a small team but for big clients. What we do is mission critical for the clients. And I tell my team - we are not paid to code, we are paid to make clients happy enough to pay us. Do you have anything to learn from me? Do I have anything to learn from you? Let's find out!

I am feeling burned out. On the one hand I've felt over-worked for years (ask my wife!) But also have a decent work-life balance. We've never exploded as a company, nor ever impoded. Always had enough work. But I find it very hard to find people to hire. I mainly hire people just out of college who can express an ability and desire to learn and who can work well with a team (friendly, kind, approachable). Because what we do is so specialized that no one on earth has the skills coming in.