Ask HN: I got duped into working on legacy code, should I leave?

I'm actually in a somewhat similar situation. In my case, the position is remote, so I haven't moved anywhere, but I was lied to about how agile the company is. They do waterfall, but they call some of the phases of the traditional Software Development Lifecycle "sprints."

We're in the analysis and design phase now, and I've been producing documentation for about a week now. As lead engineer, I'm actually being expected to take wireframes a user experience expert has made, transform them into verbal requirements according to a rigid format in Confluence, and then JIRA tasks are created. I am expected to go into these JIRA tasks and link them to the Confluence document with the requirements.

This is now the second project, and on the first project, I felt I did very little of what traditionally constitutes software engineering and instead a grab-bag of tasks vaguely related to the creation and maintenance of software.

Confirmed that this is simply how they do business, I am on the job market again.

The same thing happens to people at my company. If you have options, try an internal transfer. If not, get back on the market. Don't do a job you hate unless you have to.

First, I'm truly sorry. Do you have a goal and is this a stepping stone?

Forget tech for a second. This is about principals, ethics, morals and values. A liar is after your reality. This is about following and seeking mentorship from those whom you respect and those who respect you. This is about having a spine, sticking up for yourself and saying no. I disagree with the comments telling you to stick to the shit you've been served and be complacent. Life is too short and there are thousands out there willing and eager to waste your life if you let them. Your principals are compromised and self-respect is at stake. DO NOT ACCEPT THIS.

Events like this foreshadow and reveal the true nature of the culture at your workplace; a lesson going forward that you should not ignore. I challenge you to challenge them. Professionally and transparently confront them; I was hired for X and am doing Y, when am I going to do X. Do not fear reprisals as they are blessings in disguise. You owe it to yourself. You are passionate and skilled in high-demand front-end skills and they are silently killing your passion, career and earning potential.

1. Know and control your finances 2. Push and demand what you were promised. 3. In parallel, proactively seek a new job/opportunity.

Nothing is wrong with developing legacy applications. It's challenging and can be just as lucrative. However, when I interview a candidate for a new delopment, a history of maintaining legacy apps is a bigger red flag than short time at a precious role(granted not a pattern). Maintaining code vs creating from scratch are two different beasts and mindsets.

Be strong and learn from this experience. Best of luck.

You write this like I don't know that. I of course do, because like most people here I have written a lot of production code.

This person is in a place where they have spent years piling kludge on kludge. They never go back and fix anything, which is why they have such a mess. And here there was no emergency mentioned; he was describing their normal practice. It's duct tape all the way down.

At some point you have to draw the line and say, "No, from now on, we'll treat normal circumstances like normal circumstances, and save the duct tape for real emergencies." I am suggesting he start drawing the line. Either they'll give in or they'll negotiate his exit, and either outcome is good for him. As the Agile people say, "Either change your organization or change your organization."

That is excellent advise sterex!