I'm in almost the exact same position except possibly worse so as I'm about to be sponsored by the company to stay in Australia on a skilled work visa... So mind numbing and career stifling that I find myself her on HN wayyy more than I probably should be :/
I've mentioned my concerns with the PM and a tech-lead and get told things to the tune of 'well your other colleagues didn't have a problem...'
Been here a month now. Currently trying to build up the courage to write something to the boss but I'm not sure if that's a good idea.
Ask HN: I got duped into working on legacy code, should I leave?
31–40 of 126 posts
Re: Ask HN: I got duped into working on legacy code, should I leave?
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
The stack traces are more than twenty deep sometimes. Haven't counted but I think this is totally not unusual when I work on Java which I consider a modern stack.
I should clarify that's over 20 deep of our code , not counting all the framework stuff.
The depth of the stack is not a very good metric for code quality.
Re: Ask HN: I got duped into working on legacy code, should I leave?
#33Couple 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
Not necessarily. If you haven't been there for long (and it's not on your resume) it might not even be necessary to mention them directly. It could take a bit of linguistic technique, but if you frame things in such a way that describes what role you were hired for and what role you were given, I don't think anyone could fault you for being dissatisfied.
Re: Ask HN: I got duped into working on legacy code, should I leave?
#34Couple 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
I'm looking for a React guy. Remote work is fine as long as you're on USA timezone.
Re: Ask HN: I got duped into working on legacy code, should I leave?
#35I'd go to your boss and respectfully say what you've said here regarding your interview and intentions. "Sir/ma'am I was hired to do job X and I find myself doing job Y. Is job X still a realistic goal here? If so, when do I start? [a date should be the response]. If not, I'll start looking for job X. I don't want to burn the company, so I'll continue to work hard here until I find the job, and I'll keep you posted on the progress."
Some folks might say "no way dude, they'll can you" but I doubt it. I think most bosses would appreciate the honesty. And if they do you wrong, you still have your integrity and that's better than one more paycheck.
Re: Ask HN: I got duped into working on legacy code, should I leave?
#36All 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.
No, no.
Re: Ask HN: I got duped into working on legacy code, should I leave?
#37You skill will not rot if the code base is old and bad, your attitude does. It's just not your conform zone, it's ok to avoid it, but you will learn a lot if you don't. Spend some time to understand the business logic of the legacy code by doing code review, debugging...etc. and see if you can improve it by back porting the new technology, there's always room for that.
Re: Ask HN: I got duped into working on legacy code, should I leave?
#38All 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.
No, no.
No, no what? Do you have counterexamples where established businesses don't have to deal or interface with legacy code? If so I want to work at this magical enterprise.
According to OP this company has been around for 10+ years. It'd be a miracle if they didn't have legacy code.
Re: Ask HN: I got duped into working on legacy code, should I leave?
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Sounds like it's time to get out then. I don't know how hard that would be as you said you moved cross-country, so you could be anywhere (in the US I'm guessing). Remote work is always handy.
Re: Ask HN: I got duped into working on legacy code, should I leave?
#40"..hope I don't get fired for underperforming?..."
What kind of passive language and thinking is that?
Everything is legacy once it is written.
Imagine you, the trailblazer, only having to write new code and not having to maintain the crap you wrote.
The actual problem here is your attitude and way of seeing things. Legacy? Sucks?
Fucking write a better version and show some initiative instead of just hoping of being granted the opportunity to work on "new shit".
Millenials these days.