Mike Hall on Personal and Professional Identity at Veteran Acres | Field Notes
Walking the trails of Veteran Acres Park in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Reflections on watching a father navigate the collapse of corporate and union support systems as a diesel mechanic foreman, technical identity, and the unscripted encounter with Crystal Lake Park District Police.
The Guest
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
Come. Let me tell you a story about a man named Judd. He was a poor mountaineer who barely kept his family fat, and one day he was out shooting for some food, and from the ground came bubbling crude, oil, that is, it's black gold, Texas tea. Next thing you know, old Judd's a millionaire, and kinfolk said he gotta move away from there, said, "California is the place you ought to be?" So he packed up his bags, and he moved to Beverly
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
Hills, that is, screaming pools, movie stars, the Beverly Hillbill ies. So, I learned that song in fourth or fifth grade, somewhere around that era. Um, my father was a foreman for central Wisconsin, and he was a union shop, and, uh, he was able to afford trumpet lessons from me. So, I learned, you know, like I, I do, I, I loved theme songs. I was, I found a music book of, of different theme songs from different shows that I learned. I learned,
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
I learned, I learned, I learned Beverly Hillbill ies to perform at a recital, uh, at the Orland Park, Park District. And, um, I'm pretty Dranax, but, uh, that would have been, I don't know, I was, I was 70s, late 75. And, uh, so, whatever. The point is, is that, uh, the, um, the union for central Wisconsin, something happened, never got the story really fully. Um, maybe I'll do some research on that and fix that gap in knowledge, but my father was
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
a foreman. He was a, uh, well-respected mechanic. He, uh, he ran a line. You know, I, I don't remember all the details, because here 's the thing. That went away when the union got bought out, sold out, something Gerber was involved, I don't know. Um, I was worried about the Beverly Hillbillies, and my trumpet recital, and my little suit. And, uh, you know, and always playing with the muffler on at home, because, uh, you know, didn't want to bother people. But,
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
um, yeah. This, this happened, and there was a, there was a period where I saw my little slice of America. What happens when the union goes away, and everybody is mad , and they don't trust collective anything anymore. And they've been burned, and they're bitter for it. And then they go on, and, uh, they do survive, and they do find a way to, to, um, you know, in his case, he became an owner-operator. He, uh, sublet a few different, uh, lots
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
and buildings, so that way he could always have a place to store his truck, because he was always on the road. And, uh, he loved being a truck driver. He really did. It was his entire life. And, uh, really, what I think was, not so much unions or anything like that, but it was an identity. His, his identity of being able to be, um, a mechanic arm in arm with his fellow mechanics, and, uh, you know, this is, he was 60s,
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
70s, 80s, it was men. You know, him and his, his, uh, his men could, he had the identity, he could express himself. He knew his value. He knew what he did. And he knew, and he saw it in the faces of the people he worked with. And, and then he had, you know, fights with, uh, leadership to improve things that actually improve the bottom line, uh , for CW overall, saving them. I, again, I'm not going to quote numbers, but at
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
the time, he said it was a significant amount of money. But, uh, the safety net that he thought, the, uh, the, I, I don't want to get stuck in a word collective, but the, um, trust of his peers, of his fellow professionals, it just fractured. And, uh, you know, I think I, you know, when I, when I became a software, uh, developer, professionally, I left working for my dad as an owner-operator. And, uh, he wasn't happy about it. It hurt him
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
really bad, but I had the support of my mom. You know, I ended up getting kicked out of the house and, you know, being told I will come back begging. So I, my identity became tied up in being a software developer, an engineer, whatever. And, uh, that's even why, you know, the craftsmanship movement really did speak to me, uh, quite a bit. Is, it, it talked about, uh, things that I valued as well, and that I was taught to value. Um,
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
sometimes it's a painful lesson. Um, but, uh, it was an identity. Um, and, uh, now here we are, and people are trying to tell us, you know, we're dead. Software engineers are dead. Software developers are dead. It's a lie. You know, there just was a trust that was broken. And, uh, I can't count on our value in our skill on, uh, just the people who are paying us. Um, you know, any more than, I don't know. I'm just, I don't want
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
to go too far in metaphor, but, uh. During the dot-com, rise of the fang, the ping-pong tables, the kombucha, however you say it, they felt like, to many, that they were a sign of actual understanding of what we need to be able to do our jobs. And, uh, those of us who were younger who came into it, I see, I mean, unfortunately, I watched it as it happened. And I was cynical of it at the time. Um, but, uh, you know,
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
if they got, uh, if they got free coffee and free Diet Coke, drink it. Uh, but, uh, it was the first real sign, I think, of, of the disconnect and what our identities mapped to our employment and our status as, um, part of some corporate entity or some kind of, um... Hi, it's a person in a truck driving through the forest, looking at me. Hello. Okay, so anyway, we, uh, kind of like my dad, have to form our own identity. He,
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
uh, identified through being part of a large organization where he could affect change at a scale that wasn't easy to do just as a mechanic in a, in a garage or as a tow driver like he grew up being. And, uh, he still found his identity as a truck driver, independent driver, owner-operator, all the way through, until he did retire before he passed. But, um, um, the lesson there, I think, is... Hi. Oh, just... Good, I'm just recording a video. Oh,
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
okay. It's, uh, trying to keep the people on trails. Oh, okay. Okay, no worries, no worries at all. No, no, we have a lot of issues with these, you know, structures and stuff together. I'm not assuming you didn't build that. No, I didn't, I did not build it, but I did notice it, and I'm just recording a video here, and, uh, uh, just, uh, I live here in, in Crystal Lake, and I walk here all the time . Awesome. Yeah. Yeah,
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
it's a great place. I've been doing it for 20 years. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, awesome. You have a great day. Yeah, you as well. Okay. I thought I was out here by myself. I've never seen one of these guys come through here before. Never. 20 years I've been walking this trail. All of a sudden, I got Park Police, Crystal Lake. All right. I'm not, uh, upset with the officer, but I am disappointed in whoever I said hello to as I walked by.
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
But, um, oh, yeah, this one's going up now for sure. But, um, yeah, what is our identity? Uh, what is it after, you know, life after a layoff? I like that channel. But, um, what is our identity after AI? And people are out there declaring the death of software engineering who are respected voices. I don't know. But, uh, I'm sure we're going to find out. And, again, that's why I'm going back to these old videos. I'm going to try to answer
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
that question. But, um, so I'm just dragging this one out a little bit longer. Officer is going to have to find a way to drive around me or something. I don't know what's going to happen here in a moment, but we'll find out. Or at least I will. Um, yeah. So, yeah, yeah, my dad, he was an owner-operator. Um, I used to lump loads for him. Uh, you know, I, it would be fun. Back in the 80s, seatbelts were kind of,
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
uh, you know, they existed. But, um, in the trucks, oh, this is going to be interesting here. I don't know what I'm supposed to do there, officer. But, um, he'd take me out and I'd see these warehouses out in the middle of what felt like nowhere. It was somewhere. Just, it was remote from centralized, uh, systems. And, uh, you know, because they need a lot of space to park a lot of trucks. And, uh, we'd go out and I would see
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
the men. And, again, it was, there's always men, uh, out there in front of the, uh, gates waiting to take work. Uh, and that the drivers would come in through the gate and , and where they're making their delivery or their pickup. And they'd have people and, yeah, usually people of color. Um, mostly. And, uh, offering $100, $100 to, uh, to, uh, lump your load . Which, what that means is that the driver simply has to pull in to the, uh,
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
to the spot and to the dock. Back in, open their doors, chalk up their wheels, hand over the bill of lading. You know, it, it, it was different at different locations. But, uh, um, the, uh, then the, uh, um, the lumper would come up on the dock and work with the people in the warehouse to, uh, load and unload whatever was needed. Um, the trailer, and that was usually, you know, I could, I remember seeing it, $100, um, for lump of
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
load. And it was, you know, 43, 50 feet. And, uh, sometimes trailers, if, I can't remember, dozens of pallets stacked up, you'd have to take, sometimes you go and, uh, the ship, the receiver wouldn't accept the dimensions or the type of pallet that you were shipped on. Um, or they needed to re-wrap everything, or they needed to re, um, oh my gosh, what was it called again? Um, re-stack basically, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the pallets, you know, move them to
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
their style of pallets, you know, and they would provide those. And then you'd have to do your pallet swap, whatever, and, uh, you know, that was getting to see a side of, of America , even back in the 80s and 90s, that out in these remote places was living day to day. Out there, trying to, you know, this is, you know, when you talk about hustling, it was hard work, it was hard work, it was hard work. And they got up
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
and they did it every day, and they didn't know who or if they would get anybody to call them in for a load. But, um, I got to see that, and it's a pretty young age, and, ha, ha, ha. Alright, that's enough story time. The, uh, officer's gone. But, uh, he's pulled away. So, uh, thank you for joining me on this little adventure. That's fun. In the forest, I've walked with all of my children. My wife. Even before we were married.
Mike Hall
Software Craftsmanship Practitioner, UGtastic Creator
▶ Speaking
Somebody called the cops on me. Huh. Hmm. It's weird. All right. Bye.