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Not Just Any Old Geek

blog.oldgeekjobs.com

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Re: Not Just Any Old Geek

#301

Post by mgkimsal »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #299
mgkimsal wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We can actually Get Stuff Done, which at the end of the day is what really counts It's harder for me to "get stuff done" when then "stuff" is bullshit. There are times when what's being asked for is wrong (stealing code/images/whatever), or a wrong solution to the problem. "Right/Wrong" can be subjective, so I shy away from making those snap judgements until I know more about why something is being asked for, but a…

> A 23 year old in their first job will (generally) just plug away at whatever's given them. Older folks generally won't deal as well with bullshit work. On the contrary, I've seen far too many 20 somethings that will refuse to do anything that isn't new development.

I've seen a bit of that too, but perhaps not as much as you.

I've seen loads of folks that don't know how to work with older code (and have been guilty of that myself).

Worked on a project recently where some bit of PHP was causing trouble. The answer pushed was "just build it in node!". This was pushed by people who don't know PHP, and don't know what problem was actually occurring, but hey - "move to node!" can't ever have a downside, can it? "I'm not sure what problem I'm solving, but it'll be in nodejs, so everything will be great" seems to be a common trend over the last couple of years (at least in some of the circles I travel in).

Re: Not Just Any Old Geek

#302

Post by Roboprog »

coldtea wrote: post #295
Roboprog wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

E.g. - "No-SQL" reeks of the "Codasyl" model from the 60s, which relational databases replaced for good reason, whether or not Structured Query Language is the only way to interact with the tuples/tables. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CODASYL Ad nauseam...

Exactly, NoSQLs are nothing new -- they are the tried and failed old, that got replaced by RDBMS for good reasons (unless you also have a good reason, e.g. you run at Google's scale). People do "data science" and don't even know the various canonical forms (which are mathematical notions that apply to all kinds of data models, not just SQL DBs).

Then there's a "nuance" aspect you could use: maybe we do want a hierarchical model -- in a "middleware" level, for a specific app, just not for the operational data store used by multiple applications.

But your "yellow belt" coder might not do this, or, might build out a bunch of layers for something trivial, because that is what was in The Book.

Amen! (preaching to the choir, at this point, sorry)

Re: Not Just Any Old Geek

#303

Post by cableshaft »

sharemywin wrote: post #89
uola wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, even as I'm getting older, this isn't at all obvious to me. Someone with five years solid experience with web development might very well be far more effective than someone with twenty years experience of working in corners of large companies with various technologies, especially when you consider the expected salary. I think it good that people are talking about these things, but sometime it seem like peop…

I think "older" programmers are more likely to stick around longer. If your looking for someone to fill space so you can brag about the hours your team is putting in and party with while you blow threw a few more of some investors millions go with the young guy. Since, the companies' going to blow up in six month anyway why worry about how long they stay in a job.

Honestly I think that might be in the back of these people's heads a bit.

"Woo! We're doing what we want, when we want, how we want, this is how work should be! What, you think it would be better if we did things this way because reasons and experience? No, this is how I always wanted to work, fast and loose, I'm the one with the CEO title so this is what we'll do!

6 months later I'm so sorry guys. I have to let you all go, then come up with another idea I can get investors to pump money into so I can hop on this ride all over again and learn absolutely nothing.

This isn't true of all startups, but I've seen elements of it at several of the ones I have experience with.

Re: Not Just Any Old Geek

#304

Post by EliRivers »

DeltaWhy wrote: post #94
EliRivers wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I simply can't work the kind of hours that I could ten years ago. I find this is true in two ways; not only do I have better things to do now than donate free overtime to my employer, I am far better at not needing to. My best work in recent memory involved reading and thinking and sketching for a day and a half, and then adding six characters and a space to the front of one line of code; a decade ago, there is a rea…

What were the six characters? Reminds me of the old joke/parable about the mechanic charging $1 for turning a screw and $499 for knowing which screw to turn.

S, T, A, T, I, C, all lower case, and a single space character. Guess the language :)

Re: Not Just Any Old Geek

#305

Post by verbify »

citizenkeen wrote: post #291
verbify wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In twenty years you'll be in your 70's. Most people in their 70's are unemployable, no matter the field. If you don't have a retirement plan, then you got to do some extreme saving and lifestyle adjustment (or you'll face even more extreme lifestyle adjustment once you retire). If you do have a retirement plan, you have nothing to worry about.

No, they're in their 30s. They're concerned about their 50s.

Whoops, badly misread that.
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