Ask HN: Working with developers who can't code • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Working with developers who can't code

#11

Post by muzani » Sun, Jan 27, 2019, 3:48 PM UTC

croo wrote: post #3

My experience is that these kind of devs only survive in big environments e.g. multinational companies. Once they become the mayoriy (or the loudest) then part of the company will match their speed over time and the development time and time itself slows down. Tasks will be measured in weeks instead hours, meetings will be about anything to further the day, deadlines will fly by with everyone pointing to each other.…

I've seen them thrive in startups too. The company was incompetent, made millions. Things regularly broke (enterprise!) but the startup was backed by one of the biggest accelerators in the region, CEO hung around a lot of influential groups, media covered them a lot.

They think income is slowing down because of AI, but it's really because they make bad software and are running out of customers.

But it's a very unsexy field and there are no new competitors.

Re: Ask HN: Working with developers who can't code

#12

Post by djinnandtonic » Mon, Jan 28, 2019, 5:19 AM UTC

Get out of your company if they're really letting people with no productivity hang around.

I'd bet $99 to $1, though, that you've missed something in interacting with this person. They've held a job, presumably for some time? They're clearly producing something.

Re: Ask HN: Working with developers who can't code

#13

Post by stvmlbrn » Mon, Jan 28, 2019, 1:47 PM UTC

Oh yeah, they are rampant in government work. I find it extremely frustrating, but I just try to focus on my responsibilities and try not to get worked up about things I can't control. It's easier said than done.

As a side note, the fact that these people are able to find and keep jobs really makes me question myself. I'm not a rockstar, but I am a competent developer that can get shit done, bring value to the team, and is always trying to learn but I'm having a hard time getting a new job. It's frustrating as hell.

Re: Ask HN: Working with developers who can't code

#14

Post by seventhtiger » Tue, Jan 29, 2019, 8:37 AM UTC

arenaninja wrote: post #6

I'm on my second job where I work with people like that. The first time, the dude was promoted to manager of the department after our manager was fired for missing a pretty big deadline (massive scope creep, very poor project management). He was very good at cultivating relationships and throwing people under the bus when it suited him. Everyone hated him by the time I left, I hated him first because he was a charlat…

This is confusing to me. I'm a compsci grad and hobbyist programmer working in IT. I want to switch into software development.

On the one hand, I'm intimidated. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't do that well on a whiteboard interview, and I need to brush up on some concepts. I have around a 50 to 80% comprehension when software developers talk shop.

On the other hand, I hear stories like these of people who are barely functional yet they have my dream job.