I’m a Bad Developer, That’s the Only Reasonable Explanation • Hacker News Board

Re: I’m a Bad Developer, That’s the Only Reasonable Explanation

#101

Post by tdy721 » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 3:00 AM UTC

Sammi wrote: post #92

nope_42 wrote: post #73

Having read some of the comments in here I'm surprised to see that no one has mentioned how the co-workers reporting their time are lying and this developer isn't. If you worked on a feature for an hour and stared off into space for another hour you report that the feature took two hours. If you took 30 minutes to write an email you certainly don't report that; you move time around to make it look better. This behavi…

I do some of my best programming while I'm staring out the window or getting coffee or sitting on the toilet.

Me too, but it still feels cheating when I bill for that time.

Re: I’m a Bad Developer, That’s the Only Reasonable Explanation

#102

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 3:01 AM UTC

rwallace wrote: post #77

abannin wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such bold conclusions from 900 words and a single perspective. Isn't it possible that the author is, in fact, not good at the job?

All sorts of things are possible from this post as from any other that one isn't in a position to personally verify. It's possible that the entire post was created by Mossad as an experiment in memetic warfare; not that that's likely, but I can't disprove it. Thus, as usual, my response has the implied precondition 'if things are substantially as the post suggests they are'.

[deleted]

Re: I’m a Bad Developer, That’s the Only Reasonable Explanation

#103

Post by Buge » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 3:02 AM UTC

edem wrote: post #84

MatekCopatek wrote: post #34

I've had similar self-doubt in the past, I considered myself fast but sloppy. I changed my opinion after a workshop on different team roles at my previous job. A lot of it was boring workshop fluff, but I loved the core message: that many personality traits aren't purely positive or negative. Perfectionists are nitpickers. Fast developers are sloppy. Experienced ones overthink stuff. Bleeding-edge evangelists ruin lo…

> TL;DR: A damage dealer will beat a healer one on one, but that doesn't mean he's better. You need them both (plus a tank) to run a dungeon successfully. I haven't played a single game where this was true. Simply because both the healer and the damage dealer can do damage but only a healer can heal.

I guess it would depend on whether the healer can heal himself or only teammates.

Re: I’m a Bad Developer, That’s the Only Reasonable Explanation

#104

Post by Sir_Substance » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 3:04 AM UTC

abannin wrote: post #100

Sir_Substance wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'm really bad at basketball. I have to insight to realize this, and I tried to get better. I really cared about getting better. But at the end of the day, I am not athletic. Sure, I can devote time and energy to improving my basketball skills, but I will never achieve anything beyond 'mediocre'. None of that is in question, but let me ask you this: are you a professional basketballer? I'm not a professional chef, r…

No, I am not a professional basketball player. I can't even compete in a neighborhood pickup game. That is the point; I lack the raw material to be a professional athlete. It's very possible to be bad at something AND know that you're bad at AND not be able to reach the proficiency to perform the task at a professional level.

But, at the risk of pointing out the bleeding obvious to those who seem to be struggling with reading as well as basketball, it would then not be your job.

Re: I’m a Bad Developer, That’s the Only Reasonable Explanation

#105

Post by ilaksh » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 3:16 AM UTC

Seems like people are misinterpreting what he is saying. He is NOT saying he really thinks he is slow. I think this is a polite and less direct way of saying that constant pressure to increase 'productivity' is counter-productive in terms of outcomes and harmful to employees psychologically.

Re: I’m a Bad Developer, That’s the Only Reasonable Explanation

#106

Post by elihu » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 3:25 AM UTC

Mathnerd314 wrote: post #80

elihu wrote: post #18

One way to look at it is that if some company is continuing to pay you to work for them, they must have determined that it was worth it to them. If management is putting pressure on you to produce more, it's because they want, say, a 3x return on their investment instead of a 2x return. By accepting a job from them, you're obligated to work diligently at a sustainable pace. You aren't obligated to worry about whether…

If management has capital to spend, they might be spending it on new hires to see which ones work out, and firing low performers such as yourself. The majority of states are at-will states so you could easily get laid off.

That is something to consider. There is a difference though between working harder because you're afraid that you'll be replaced by someone faster and cheaper and working harder because you're motivated by feelings of guilt and shame. I don't think either one is particularly healthy, but in the former case you can at least make a rational decision whether the job is worth enough to you to risk burning yourself out.

It's also worth considering that not all developers are easy to replace, for various reasons. A lot of big companies aren't in a position to be choosy as long as their employees are reasonably competent and can do the work.

Re: I’m a Bad Developer, That’s the Only Reasonable Explanation

#107

Post by emmelaich » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 3:40 AM UTC

amriksohata wrote: post #3

_Marak_ wrote: post #2

I'd suggest trying to focus more on using tools related to building reports on code coverage and code complexity during your day to day development. If you lean more towards a test driven approach backed with trackable metrics for code quality, I think you might have more confidence in your day to day development and ultimately be more productive.

You do realise even the founder of TDD doesn't back it anymore and code coverage is a very poor metric, your words sound like a senior developer from 2010. If he's a bad developer the best he can do is read up on SOLID principles and read a book like Clean Code with good examples of how to write code.

If you're referring to https://www.facebook.com/notes/kent-beck/rip-tdd/75084019494... he was being sarcastic.

But he also has said it can be over-done.

Which is not surprising, because everything that can be done can be over-done.

Re: I’m a Bad Developer, That’s the Only Reasonable Explanation

#108

Post by orbitingpluto » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 4:36 AM UTC

I've told this story before, so here is the short version.

I replaced $girl in a sysadmin/programming role that would get used by other employees. According to my supervisor, she was always far more productive than me. He'd ask for an estimate of how long something would take and he'd always say, "That's too long. $girl could do it half the time."

Well, because it was my first tech job company, I sort of had impostor syndrome because of him but also thought of a way to test it out. One job we often had would get programmed from scratch several times a year and take about 2 or 3 hours to do. I cludged it into a simple framework where I could just edit the XML after the other employees started to use it. So when he asked me how long it was going to take before people could start using it I said thirty seconds.

"That's too long... $girl could do it 15..., wait, what?"

Re: I’m a Bad Developer, That’s the Only Reasonable Explanation

#109

Post by grogenaut » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 4:37 AM UTC

MatekCopatek wrote: post #34

I've had similar self-doubt in the past, I considered myself fast but sloppy. I changed my opinion after a workshop on different team roles at my previous job. A lot of it was boring workshop fluff, but I loved the core message: that many personality traits aren't purely positive or negative. Perfectionists are nitpickers. Fast developers are sloppy. Experienced ones overthink stuff. Bleeding-edge evangelists ruin lo…

Mei pretty much takes down everyone 1v1 and she's just a well rounded gal.

Re: I’m a Bad Developer, That’s the Only Reasonable Explanation

#110

Post by WWLink » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 5:33 AM UTC

Axiverse wrote: post #82

MatekCopatek wrote: post #34

I've had similar self-doubt in the past, I considered myself fast but sloppy. I changed my opinion after a workshop on different team roles at my previous job. A lot of it was boring workshop fluff, but I loved the core message: that many personality traits aren't purely positive or negative. Perfectionists are nitpickers. Fast developers are sloppy. Experienced ones overthink stuff. Bleeding-edge evangelists ruin lo…

I agree with your assessment. As you get experienced, I think it's beneficial to be able to learn to be both fast/sloppy and slow/meticulous given the circumstances. Having worked in both enterprise scenarios and startup environments, I've learned that it's really a result of larger environmental pressures. If you're working in long-range software, it's by far more beneficial to be a bit slower and more meticulous in…

You know what sucks ass though?

The 10x developer that isn't actually a 10x developer, but continually gets to start projects! So they get to do that part where you can make 80% of the program in 20% of the time. They slap it together, and move on to the next big thing. Leaving everyone else to clean up their rushed mess that barely works.