Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 126 posts

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

#21

Post by Old_Thrashbarg »

jonny_storm wrote: post #3

If you leave then they're no longer paying you, so you owe them nothing, right? :)

Exactly, you owe them your labor while they're still paying you. If they gave you a signing bonus or something under the assumption that you'll stay for a certain amount of time, then they will probably (justifiably) crawl it back.

Like another person said, there are people who enjoy modernizing codebases (I sometimes do myself), but if you are hating your job, do everyone a favor and make a change.

You should probably start with your manager, and explain why you are considering leaving.

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

#22

Post by pm »

throwawaysbdi wrote: post #18
pm wrote: post #17

What's the legacy codebase, if I may ask (unless it identifies the company too much)?

Some of it is so obsolete and unique it would probably identify the company :) . The rest is slightly less old, MS webforms. The webforms stuff isn't much better because the code quality is the worst I've ever seen. Adding features and fixing bugs is a stochastic process because you never know what will break. Usually fixing a bug will expose an old fix that was done improperly for the original even older bug, forcin…

Patches all the way down, it seems. I've had to deal with similar codebases. I try to fix what I can, but it always seems to be a neverending process.

Legacy codebases suck, but it doesn't stop newer codebases from sucking just as much. I've learnt that the hard way.

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

#23

Post by throwawaysbdi »

CyberFonic wrote: post #6

Couple of questions to focus your decision making: Did they pay for your relocation expenses? If so, is there a clause in your employment contract to pay it back if you leave within a given period of time? Do you want to stay in your new city? If you are unhappy enough to leave, then why not bail up the manager who hired you, tell them point-blank that they lied to you and you know that the "round the corner" talk is…

Relo isn't a problem and I definitely want to stay in this town. I can't really mark it as time off because I already did that a while back, I don't want to end up with a lot of gaps :)

I was thinking I could just apply to other places and be honest with them... But some may also frown upon me saying bad things about my current employer

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

#24

Post by pagade »

bigiain wrote: post #10
throwawaysbdi wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's difficult to be proud of anything I'm doing :). Whenever I propose a design for something, I'm told to do it the fastest way which is usually a bad hack. I'm amazed the code works at all. The stack traces are more than twenty deep sometimes. I can't stand to look at it for more than 20 minutes without a break. I need to be more careful next time I'm looking for a job

Not "proud of what you're doing", but "proud of how you're conducting yourself". Make sure you can walk out at 5pm holding your head high thinking "All things considered, I gave them good value for what they paid me today". Also consider that "the fastest way which is usually a bad hack" is sometime the correct pragmatic approach for a legacy codebase that's in the process of being replaced. Giving them the benefit o…

Below link helped me to carry on while I was still there: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2001/12/25/getting-things-don...

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

#25

Post by dkarapetyan »

All code is legacy code. Use it as a proving ground for learning how to deal with legacy code. Otherwise you will always be bitter and upset no matter where you go. The only way to work on greenfield projects is to start something from scratch on your own.

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

#26

Post by gherig4 »

Look for a new job while pulling in your current paycheck. You were lied to from the start and you owe them nothing. Most of the new places will no have a problem with "job hopping" if you are honest and say you aren't working on what you were hired for. Relevant xkcd https://xkcd.com/1768/

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

#27

Post by throwawaysbdi »

jalayir wrote: post #15

Walk away, please. It's clear that you hate your job. Do it now before you regret it anymore.

My expenses are too high to walk away and there's nothing I can do about it for a couple years. Otherwise I would have walked out several times over.

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

#28

Post by throwawaysbdi »

gherig4 wrote: post #26

Look for a new job while pulling in your current paycheck. You were lied to from the start and you owe them nothing. Most of the new places will no have a problem with "job hopping" if you are honest and say you aren't working on what you were hired for. Relevant xkcd https://xkcd.com/1768/

Damn that's relevant

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

#29

Post by throwawaysbdi »

Animats wrote: post #16

If all you've got are React and Typescript, you may be better off learning how to modernize old code. There's a glut of Javascript-only programmers. What's the old code written in?

Some webforms but the majority is in a much more ancient and niche language I won't name because it's too specific to this company.

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

#30

Post by throwawaysbdi »

pm wrote: post #22
throwawaysbdi wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of it is so obsolete and unique it would probably identify the company :) . The rest is slightly less old, MS webforms. The webforms stuff isn't much better because the code quality is the worst I've ever seen. Adding features and fixing bugs is a stochastic process because you never know what will break. Usually fixing a bug will expose an old fix that was done improperly for the original even older bug, forcin…

Patches all the way down, it seems. I've had to deal with similar codebases. I try to fix what I can, but it always seems to be a neverending process. Legacy codebases suck, but it doesn't stop newer codebases from sucking just as much. I've learnt that the hard way.

Yes. The codebase is best described as a giant pile of hacks.

It's the culture more than the tech that causes this to happen. Every time I offer to refactor I'm told to fix it the fastest way and that's how we've been doing it for 10+years.

Post reply on HN