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I'm a good engineer but I suck at building stuff

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Re: I'm a good engineer but I suck at building stuff

#71

Post by ryanmarsh »

bitwize wrote: post #26
daenz wrote: post #3

> When I try to build something new, I find myself instantly criticizing my technique, to the point of paralysis. This function is hard to test; this object's dependencies need to be injected rather than initialized internally; that module needs an integration test; and so on and so forth. Even when writing spike or proof of concept code, I find myself revisiting the same lines over and over again, looking for the be…

No. It has to be clean, correct, and come with full unit test coverage the first time. You have until the next sprint to implement it. Your workspace is a Macintosh at a long desk where you'll be working shoulder to shoulder with other devs working on other projects. If you can't manage even that, you're just not a good fit for our company; we expected more of an engineer of your experience level. Based on a true sto…

That one hit a little too close to home.

Re: I'm a good engineer but I suck at building stuff

#72

Post by gohrt »

bitwize wrote: post #26
daenz wrote: post #3

> When I try to build something new, I find myself instantly criticizing my technique, to the point of paralysis. This function is hard to test; this object's dependencies need to be injected rather than initialized internally; that module needs an integration test; and so on and so forth. Even when writing spike or proof of concept code, I find myself revisiting the same lines over and over again, looking for the be…

No. It has to be clean, correct, and come with full unit test coverage the first time. You have until the next sprint to implement it. Your workspace is a Macintosh at a long desk where you'll be working shoulder to shoulder with other devs working on other projects. If you can't manage even that, you're just not a good fit for our company; we expected more of an engineer of your experience level. Based on a true sto…

I misread as "You have until the next spring" and I wondered if you were hiring.

Re: I'm a good engineer but I suck at building stuff

#73

Post by gohrt »

rednab wrote: post #41
ogreveins wrote: post #6

Here's a priority list that you should typically follow for making anything. 1. Make it work. 2. Make it not break. 3. Make it fast. That's it really. Until the performance of something is blocking what you need to do somewhere else leave it the hell alone.

Per (as far as I can tell) the original: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?MakeItWorkMakeItRightMakeItFast 1. Make it work. 2. Make it right. 3. Make it fast.

Make it run, right, rapidly.

Re: I'm a good engineer but I suck at building stuff

#74

Post by gohrt »

ianstormtaylor wrote: post #11
reefoctopus wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4. Make it manageable.

I'd probably swap them: 1. Make it work. 2. Make it not break. 3. Make it manageable. 4. Make it fast. Otherwise I find that trying to make something fast before making it manageable usually ends up in crazy hacks that are hard to undo later.

It's less likely to break if it's manageable first.

Re: I'm a good engineer but I suck at building stuff

#75

Post by pedalpete »

Where you see your greatest weakness, I see your great strength.

I'm good at building stuff, but I'm not a great engineer (I'm ok, but others on my team are way better).

Not to say I don't have my strengths. I'm good at figuring out what to build and the general architecture of how to get it done quickly and working well.

But when it really comes time to scale and scale big, you don't want me coding. You want me looking at the next features etc. etc.

If you love getting into the nitty-gritty of high quality beautifully considered easy to work with code, why do you feel you should focus on 'building stuff'?

Personally, I think focusing on your strength (not to completely ignore building stuff) can be a huge benefit.

Re: I'm a good engineer but I suck at building stuff

#76

Post by stuaxo »

bitwize wrote: post #26
daenz wrote: post #3

> When I try to build something new, I find myself instantly criticizing my technique, to the point of paralysis. This function is hard to test; this object's dependencies need to be injected rather than initialized internally; that module needs an integration test; and so on and so forth. Even when writing spike or proof of concept code, I find myself revisiting the same lines over and over again, looking for the be…

No. It has to be clean, correct, and come with full unit test coverage the first time. You have until the next sprint to implement it. Your workspace is a Macintosh at a long desk where you'll be working shoulder to shoulder with other devs working on other projects. If you can't manage even that, you're just not a good fit for our company; we expected more of an engineer of your experience level. Based on a true sto…

Awesome. I interviewed at one of these once, I knew I wasn't going to get it when I saw the massive imacs and the square glasses... plus the guy couldn't explain what it was they did at all.

Re: I'm a good engineer but I suck at building stuff

#77

Post by billylindeman »

ogreveins wrote: post #6

Here's a priority list that you should typically follow for making anything. 1. Make it work. 2. Make it not break. 3. Make it fast. That's it really. Until the performance of something is blocking what you need to do somewhere else leave it the hell alone.

In hardware dev I've followed a similar paradigm from an old mentor:

1) Make it work

2) Make it work better

3) Make it work cheap

Re: I'm a good engineer but I suck at building stuff

#78

Post by WalterBright »

andrepd wrote: post #68
xyzzy4 wrote: post #47

"He who rests while other people work with their heads, hands, and hearts is a capitalist".

Makes people mad, but it's true. People who rest and reap profits orders of magnitude above those who work, due only to the fact that they hold capital, are leeches on society.

> are leeches on society

The societies that have gotten rid of the capitalists haven't made life better for the rest.

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