311–320 of 584 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Offshore developed code is not usually the same quality. Not that we all deserve huge salaries, but code quality important.
>Offshore developed code is not usually the same quality. Not that we all deserve huge salaries, but code quality important. Cheap offshore developed code is usually not the same quality. Pay people the same and it's amazing what you'll get.
The reasons underlying the bi-modality are pretty clear to me. There are a couple of major factors at play: 1) Inflation. My starting salary out of college many years ago was $35K. Today's starting salaries are double that. Double in less than 20 years. A $50K salary in the early 1980s is equivalent to $120K today, not controlling for geographic location--HCOL areas are actually far worse than that. Let that sink in…
I'm not sure that's true. I've lost track of the number of software engineers I know who are in at least the low 200's Total Comp (in Texas).
Common? Probably not. Rarified? Not as much as you think. There's two just on my current team.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The difference is that others' lack of access to the Louvre or the beach isn't preventing them from feeding their families. To a degree, we should feel bad for having access to capital when there are far greater needs for this capital elsewhere. Most of us don't have any real power to change the situation unfortunately. But it is definitely something to be conscious of and you should reflect on what you can do to hel…
How bad should I feel exactly? Is this equivalent to murder? Had we foregone some luxury many could be saved from starvation. I don't even really disagree, but the weight of the burden you assume responsibility over is very great. Why not devote your entire life to helping others if you are responsible for them, consume no luxuries, or anything but the most basic of needs. I'm sure you could save thousands.
It is important to be aware of your place in society. I am a 28 year old white male with only a handful of years of professional experience. I am benefiting from the past and present exploitation of others. But within this privileged class I am not so high up on the totem pole.
By working my way up the totem pole, and always looking for ways to help, I will find myself in a position to make a real impact. And if not myself, then hopefully my children.
It makes sense to enjoy your prosperity to the extent that it allows you to continue progressing toward this goal. In order to climb the totem pole, you have to spend money on luxuries. You have to wear expensive suits and go to exclusive parties.
At the same time, there are always things you can do to help right now. For example, I tip service workers well as they need the money more than I do. I give change to beggars and those who find themselves in tough spots. I also make an effort to spread the perspectives of those less privileged than myself as I've found that straight white males pay more attention to other straight white males.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you want to know just how hard programming is, try teaching it to someone. Programmers have to remember a vast amount of domain knowledge. Consider the basic task of choosing where you are going to store some data, well first you need to know which options exist and there's dozens of them (do you want Postgres, SQLite, Redis, LevelDB, ..?). Then you need to know the strengths and weaknesses of each. And I hope you…
I have an issue with that: law school and medical school certainly do not teach you how to practice law or medicine. Computer science sounds akin to both: you get theoretical underpinnings (many of which are outdated or will be unneeded for your specialty) but all your actual learning is on the job.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is wrong. Even simple software requires a radically different way of thinking than the way most are trained. I've taught 6th graders how to code and it is clear that the way of approaching problems and creating solutions (i.e. creative thinking, intellectual curiosity, and willingness to collaborate and ask questions) really separates the students from who "get it" and thse who don't. Don't sell it short because…
I disagree, GP is absolutely correct. The reason people think that programming or software engineering is hard is because they were told that it is hard. US and the West in general has this strange culture where those that are supposed to know (teachers, parents, professors) like to tell those who are learning (students, children, etc) that whatever is done is hard. Math, apparently, is hard. Algebra is hard. Trigono…
If I'm struggling to understand something that is so easy, maybe I'm just dumb.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you want to know just how hard programming is, try teaching it to someone. Programmers have to remember a vast amount of domain knowledge. Consider the basic task of choosing where you are going to store some data, well first you need to know which options exist and there's dozens of them (do you want Postgres, SQLite, Redis, LevelDB, ..?). Then you need to know the strengths and weaknesses of each. And I hope you…
> If you want to know just how hard programming is, try teaching it to someone. > The lack of barriers to entry actually makes it harder. There are "law schools" and "med schools" to teach you all the knowledge required to become a lawyer or a doctor. There is no "programming school", every programmer is self-taught. A computer science degree hardly scratches the surface. +1024 I have said quite a few times that the…
Yes, it is. And the example used in the article of chemical engineering reinforces the point. It ties into computer science quite nicely. To become a chemical engineer, you first have to complete the course work for a degree in chemistry. Chemistry as chemistry is an extremely modular subject matter; you can solve most problems in discrete steps in isolation. In a computer science sense, chemistry is about pure funct…
>To become a chemical engineer, you first have to complete the course work for a degree in chemistry. That is incorrect. Look at the programme of study for a chemical engineering undergraduate degree [1]. It doesn't cover anywhere near the same content as an undergraduate chemistry degree [2]. [1]: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/ug/courses/chemical-engineer... [2]: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/ug/courses/chemist…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As an "offshore developer", I have worked on multiple US projects with low quality code written by US developers. Should I assume that American code is usually low quality?
> Should I assume that American code is usually low quality? Yes. It usually is.
Perhaps anecdotal, but my opinion is this basically comes down to two general types of workers: those who know what competitive salary rates are and those who don't or don't care. The first category knows exactly what they're worth and they'll push to get that worth. They know that if their current company won't pay that, they'll easily find another company that will. They end up switching jobs relatively frequently…