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Be Kind

briangilham.com

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Re: Be Kind

#131

Post by zavulon »

I had a similar experience when I first started as a junior engineer at a financial company. By accident, I dropped a database in production... immediately, people found out and the head of production support came to me and said "This is strike 1".

Terrified, I ran to a senior engineer, who calmly and efficiently proceeded to restore everything in a few minutes. The only thing he said to me was "happens to everyone, don't worry about it, just be more careful next time."

I was extremely thankful and a LOT more careful next time, and each time after that.

Re: Be Kind

#132

Post by david-given »

herge wrote: post #4

I have the similar problem with code reviews. It is really hard to not sound harsh when giving a code review, especially in ones from junior developers where a whole laundry list of fixes comes out.

There's a developer where I work who has an amazing ability to make you feel good about code reviews --- I come out of one feeling pumped and enthusiastic even though they've just shredded my code apart and now I'm going to have to do all that work again.

Conversely, I've come out of reviews from other people, where they've been fundamentally happy with my code, feeling depressed and miserable.

Communication skills are vitally important. I've been trying to learn from the first reviewer; next time they visit I should actually grab them for coffee and talk about it...

Re: Be Kind

#133

Post by wst_ »

herge wrote: post #4

I have the similar problem with code reviews. It is really hard to not sound harsh when giving a code review, especially in ones from junior developers where a whole laundry list of fixes comes out.

This is a matter of being friendly with the team on a daily basis. If you are, then you can change a sentence that could sound harsh without the context into friendly conversation which may teach both of you something new. If you have found anything bigger then one line, sit together, have a laugh or joke (friendly one), chat about the issue, think (both) about improvement. Not so difficult, really.

Re: Be Kind

#134

Post by binalpatel »

Situations like this really let you know the true merit of your leadership.

I had a similar situation - where alerts based on bad data went out to customers, and hundreds of customer support tickets started flooding in. The VP, Director, and my manager all came to my desk.

Instead of chewing me out, or telling me how much I had messed up, they calmly figured out the issue, told me that mistakes happen, and thanked me for helping them figure out how unreliable the underlying data we were using was.

Re: Be Kind

#135

Post by wott »

savanaly wrote: post #67
hluska wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, but you have no defense. Laughing at a junior developer'a code is completely inexcusable. Simple fact is, if you worked for me, I would have fired you for that. Junior devs are supposed to do bad things - that's why they aren't senior devs.

I think you're quite possibly judging the guy too much based on a simple internet comment. His statement could mean anything from cruelly laughing in the face of the junior dev during a face to face code review to having a quick heh under his breath from the privacy of his office at the developer's use of "if (foo === true)". Or anything in between.

> I think you're quite possibly judging the guy too much based on a simple internet comment.

There are such judgements in every thread.

It's even better when it is paired with the famous "I would not hire you" (or its variation "I would fire you") although the conversation does relate to this at all, the OP has shown no intent no be hired in any company, let alone the answerer's company, and, icing on the cake, the answerer is not in a position to hire anyone.

Re: Be Kind

#136

Post by dbg31415 »

While it's nice that we know that the protagonist is agonizing over his mistake, in reality, that's not often the case.

Since I don't have insight into their heads, and I can't tell if something was a sloppy mistake because they were inexperienced, or a sloppy mistake because they were trying to get out the door to a camping trip and prioritized their personal life over the team or client.

Clear example of why it's bad to deploy on Fridays, why it's bad to have single-person deployments, why it's bad to leave your laptop at home, etc.

But how would the kindly Senior know the Junior dev just made a mistake vs. was a fuckup and was thinking, "I don't give a shit, Senior will catch it and I just want to be on a beach now. Fuck it, I'm 'done' -- now to just sneak out and put my phone in the glove compartment for the next 3 hours while this blows over..."

The answer is he wouldn't.

So here's the other issue. Let's say I trust one person more than another. And Junior A -- who I believe to be a superior talent -- gets the benefit of the doubt, but Junior B gets scolded.

Now let's say there's even the slightest difference in hair length or eye color between A and B... and presto that's an HR discrimination complaint I now have to deal with. As it turns out, Juniors don't have insight into the minds of Seniors either.

So, some good advice... Be humble, do what you can to not make things worse for others, set up good practices that let everyone thrive (the best way you can do this is to avoid failure opportunities -- i.e. don't deploy on Fridays), and do what you can to treat everyone fairly and equally based on perceived actions and offenses.

We can't know what goes on in someone's head.

Re: Be Kind

#137

Post by schintan »

coldtea wrote: post #124
spenczar5 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to avert anyone else's confusion: Bob Hoover didn't die. Not sure what coldtea is referring to.

I was giving a different twist to the story to point that things can (and do) go differently to the rosy picture painted in it ("oh, you did a mistake once == you'll never make it again"). That's why in the except I kept, I didn't keep any reference to Bob Hoover. It's about the idea in the story, not some particular pilot.

that's a twisted way to twist a story.

Re: Be Kind

#139

Post by cheez »

hluska wrote: post #44
cheez wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh his behalf, I apologize. I literally started laughing at a junior's code once but in my defense, he had spent 3 years at Amazon.

I'm sorry, but you have no defense. Laughing at a junior developer'a code is completely inexcusable. Simple fact is, if you worked for me, I would have fired you for that. Junior devs are supposed to do bad things - that's why they aren't senior devs.

Again, the guy spent 3 years at Amazon and was talking himself up big. I looked at the code and started laughing. He wasn't a junior in title, in fact, he was on his way to being senior and had his eyes on an architect position.

That is my defense and the only time I've laughed at someone's code. I guess the combination of him talking himself up big about all the amazing things he did at Amazon and the code vomit that he actually produced was too much for me.

I regret it, but he shouldn't really have been that junior after 3 years?

Though I guess I still write pretty shitty code now too on occasion.

Alright, I'll take the karma L in this case.

Re: Be Kind

#140

Post by davemel37 »

I heard a story about Pepsi (dont recall the names), where an executive made a decisiom that lost them 10 Million dollars. The CEO called the executive into his office... The executive shuffled into the office, head down, and meekly said, I guess you called me in here to fire me." To which the CEO replied, "FIRE YOU?! I just spent $10,000,000 educating you!
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