I've always wanted to work at Cloudflare because of Lee. He was probably the first one from my high school who actually made something that people want (and I also use everyday).
Please apply: Cloudflare.com/careers
What Happened to Lee
221–230 of 299 posts
Re: What Happened to Lee
#222Terrifying. As a software engineer, shit like this scares me. I've felt like I'm on a steady, slow, decline for the last ~4 years. Is it just burnout? Do I need a new hobby? I used to love programming... Spent 12 hours a day jamming on it. Now, I struggle to keep my mind on a line of code for more than 5 minutes. At what point is it just burnout, or at what point is it something more? That's what's terrifying to me.…
After reading this I had to do a quick self-assessment. For the last few years or so (I'm 33, also a software engineer) I've noticed a pretty big decline in my mental state. I can't focus. I immediately forget what I just looked at, read or did. I completely zone out when people talk to me. I am just not present in any situation. What is strange is that I can actually notice it, not in real-time however. It's been wo…
I'm 33 also.
I'm starting to form a theory that it could be dopamine depletion. [1]
Re: What Happened to Lee
#223The question that occurs to me is: if you knew that was in your future, would you spend your last 10 good years toiling at a startup?
I don’t think Lee ever toiled. He was a “maker” in the best sense of the word. And, to this day, when he expresses himself in the limited ways he still does, he searches Google or YouTube for “Cloudflare.”
Re: What Happened to Lee
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the fact that you're reflecting on it means there's no actual degradation. Someone with Lee's disorder doesn't seem to be capable of self reflection at all. To me it doesn't really sound like he's suffering, especially given the fact that he doesnt really have meltdowns and freakouts. It sounds more like he's just reverting to a state where his behaviors and consciousness coming from the cerebellum/brainstem,…
This feels right. Even when he could express himself in a way I could understand, he never expressed himself as frustrated or suffering. The disease at some level seems to rob its victims from the ability to suffer. It’s hard to comprehend.
I'm curious. Before his disease got bad, when he was still working but maybe starting to show some of the first signs...
Did he ever express any concern? Or was it entirely other people who noticed his decline, but he was oblivious?
Re: What Happened to Lee
#225Terrifying. As a software engineer, shit like this scares me. I've felt like I'm on a steady, slow, decline for the last ~4 years. Is it just burnout? Do I need a new hobby? I used to love programming... Spent 12 hours a day jamming on it. Now, I struggle to keep my mind on a line of code for more than 5 minutes. At what point is it just burnout, or at what point is it something more? That's what's terrifying to me.…
After reading this I had to do a quick self-assessment. For the last few years or so (I'm 33, also a software engineer) I've noticed a pretty big decline in my mental state. I can't focus. I immediately forget what I just looked at, read or did. I completely zone out when people talk to me. I am just not present in any situation. What is strange is that I can actually notice it, not in real-time however. It's been wo…
Welcome to maturing. Most people I've talked to have noticed things.
The positive part is that experience counts for something.
Re: What Happened to Lee
#226I feel that our profession, software engineering, might actually cause this sort of problem. Like the movie 'Concussion' the hyper focus on solving logic problems might cause brain damage. I've experienced something like this after multi day long bouts of coding, where at the end I become incapable of understanding simple greetings from other people. It is like the 'social signal processor' part of my brain just shuts down.
And, it is this 'social signal processor' that helps keep me sane. God knows what I'd be like if I only lived in my own head 24/7. So, what kind of brain damage could it do to a person to become completely consumed by coding 24/7 (even though I'd love to do so)?
"The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason." - GK Chesterton
Re: What Happened to Lee
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
Working with stored procedures is just the pits. I wonder why you would describe that as "great". Maybe it's optimized, but so would be a giant executable written in assembly.
As long as you have the necessary tooling for source control, versioning, code search, etc. -- why is it the pits? I mean, if you stick to a rigorous procedure of automatically exporting your stored procedures to files and committing them to git with messages... how is that different from any other development? Serious question -- I've done tons of database work but only a little bit with stored procedures, so wonder…
Not OP, but I want to say there's a lot more that goes into the development process than just source control, versioning, and code search. There's linters, and dozens of different kinds of tests, and ways of automatically running those tests, and layers of procedure before code changes go public. This seems much harder to do for stored procedures. Especially considering that stored procedure languages are fragmented between different databases; you don't just pay the cost of having to change the stored procedures when changing databases, you are also paying for the fact that it is harder to build automated tools to analyze the stored procedures, because the API for each database is going to be different.
That being said, there are lots of factors that influence how maintainable a specific stored procedure is. Team size, business needs, company culture, etc. Stored procedures get a bad rep from the places where they are train wrecks. YMMV.
Re: What Happened to Lee
#228Re: What Happened to Lee
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
After reading this I had to do a quick self-assessment. For the last few years or so (I'm 33, also a software engineer) I've noticed a pretty big decline in my mental state. I can't focus. I immediately forget what I just looked at, read or did. I completely zone out when people talk to me. I am just not present in any situation. What is strange is that I can actually notice it, not in real-time however. It's been wo…
I'm 33 also. I'm starting to form a theory that it could be dopamine depletion. [1] [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2791340/
Anecdotal, but having the same in early 30s. Was diagnosed with ADHD, low-dose long-form Adderall has basically reversed my symptoms, which from my understanding involves dopamine or dopamine receptors. Sleeping better and exercise are both also good boosts.
Re: What Happened to Lee
#230Terrifying. As a software engineer, shit like this scares me. I've felt like I'm on a steady, slow, decline for the last ~4 years. Is it just burnout? Do I need a new hobby? I used to love programming... Spent 12 hours a day jamming on it. Now, I struggle to keep my mind on a line of code for more than 5 minutes. At what point is it just burnout, or at what point is it something more? That's what's terrifying to me.…
I'm a 43 year old software engineer. I definitely do not have the ability to focus on coding (and mathematics) the way I did 20 years ago. It's difficult to describe why exactly, but it's sort of like my ability to reason formally is more prone to breaks in concentration and lapses. I can still do what needs to be done but it takes longer and I have less patience, especially for bit-twiddling.
At the same time, I think I'm a better programmer than I ever was. The programming abstractions I design are better for years of work with different systems. Also, not being able to fit everything in my head as easily helps me write code that is more modular with simpler pieces.
So I feel like I've lost the ability to do the trickiest stuff, but that is a small part of coding and I'll take the skills in overall design any day.