Show HN: A Senior Engineer's CheckList • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: A Senior Engineer's CheckList

#151

Post by LaGrange » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 6:22 PM UTC

29athrowaway wrote: post #54

LaGrange wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Caring about ethics is too old fashioned for software "engineering," reputation is maintained by someone else, software developers tend to think the law happens to other people and HAHAHAHAHA. ...that's about it.

Engineers at a known european auto maker created a solution to defeat car emissions tests. As a result, there were cars on the streets that polluted hundreds of times more than a regular car. Delivery and ridesharing apps have algorithms that are almost indifferent from tip skimming. Many people working on those platforms live in financial hardship. In an east asian country, people live under constant surveillance: p…

You are trying to convince me that ethics are important. I already believe that. You perhaps might try to convince me that companies care about that, but you started off with a bunch of counter examples.

Re: Show HN: A Senior Engineer's CheckList

#152

Post by AtlasBarfed » Wed, Sep 11, 2019, 1:40 AM UTC

psychoslave wrote: post #123

jcadam wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember myself and every other senior engineer on a team once rejecting a candidate and being overruled by management. The guy was hired and... turned out to be as useless as we thought he'd be.

Well, the person might not have been the most skilled guy around, but how hard did the team worked at integrating this person? I mean, starting with a negative reputation in a team that felt betrayed by your arrival doesn't seem to be the best condition to give the best out of yourself.

There is infinite opportunity to screw over a new hire. Just getting setup in the dev environment on any team is usually 50% undocumented and you need help from coworkers.... it's one of my least-favorite things to do on a new job.

Also undocumented in large companies: how to get ANYTHING done outside the team.

Then when it comes to reviews, especially in large companies, you are utterly beholden to whether or not your manager likes you. I've only ever seen one person the manager disliked get a glowing review, and the manager did it as a joke since they were quitting.

Re: Show HN: A Senior Engineer's CheckList

#153

Post by MasiUnpleasant » Wed, Sep 11, 2019, 8:22 AM UTC

mgkimsal wrote: post #122

5trokerac3 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "The reason" can also be lack of basic competence in previous workers. That type of wording belies a destructive approach to the problem. What I'm told is "lack of competence" is often someone not being trained properly, or leadership that decided to make a deadline no matter what, or a junior dev that got called a senior dev to fill a seat at a cheaper rate, or someone who knew they didn't have the skills but didn…

"often someone not being trained properly, or leadership that decided to make a deadline no matter what" > That can be extended to the rest of the team or management around the worker(s) for not providing a guidance/help. I indicated this isn't always/necessarily one person's fault. re: your senior dev. he might be correct that their code sucks, but he's also being an ass in his own right. I've told this story a few…

> document the meetings behind decisions, document the rationale for cutting corners

... document the API, document the project goals, document the company values, document checklists and routines, document processes and personal instructions. DOCUMENT THE GOD DAMN HISTORY OF FAILURES AND INCIDENTS!

And then rely in job on all those documents, not on talks and experience or memory of some key engineers. It hurts when you start, people tend to blame all those unnecessary staff, but it pays off in so high rates later. Often it's possible to say if a company will be successful on long run only by seeing its documentation.

Re: Show HN: A Senior Engineer's CheckList

#154

Post by imafish » Wed, Sep 11, 2019, 10:24 AM UTC

richardwhiuk wrote: post #98

imafish wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So a mechanical engineer with < 1 year experience should also be called a junior mechanical developer.. or am I missing the point here?

A mechanical engineer with A junior web developer, with less than 1 years experience might have spent two days reading https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sams-Teach-Yourself-PHP-Hours/dp/06... (if that). Let's not pretend those are the same. Software Engineering has a history of trashing any benefits of formal education, and refusing to believe that any of it has any worth.

> In some countries that's a requirement for using the term "Engineer".

This is more or less the case where I am from, so I assumed that to be generally applicable, but no? In that case, I agree.

Re: Show HN: A Senior Engineer's CheckList

#155

Post by Flimm » Sat, Sep 14, 2019, 3:10 PM UTC

littleblah wrote: post #150

Flimm wrote: post #137

Here is a clickable list of what the OP posted, for the lazy: 1. https://littleblah.com/post/2019-09-01-senior-engineer-check... 2. https://medium.com/@littleblah/my-top-25-items-in-a-senior-e... 3. https://github.com/littleblah/senior-engineer-checklist

Thanks. Somehow I failed to create clickable links :(

Not your fault. It's impossible to do in the post description.