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If you're hiring, be forthcoming about the dev experience

rachelbythebay.com

11–20 of 131 posts

Re: If you're hiring, be forthcoming about the dev experience

#11
Do you think that companies like G are going to be able to hire literally anyone if they start advertising all the mess that they are working around?

Why would you write this article from an engineer's standpoint with arguments that will only benefit other engineer's but for some reason is directed at companies? Why not just call it "I'm upset with the dev experience" and be honest about your intentions?

Re: If you're hiring, be forthcoming about the dev experience

#12
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A hammer is not always the best tool. Edit: what did you mean by "a set" of standardized toosl? Like the set {Windows 10, Linux of some distribution, macOS 10.15, iOS, Android}? Even then, what if some app does not work on Windows 10? Or what if you need a 32 bit app running on macOS?

But if your 10,000 employees each need a hammer, getting them all the same one, from the same vendor, with the same support contract might just make sense. Edit to your edit: whatever particular sets of tools the business needs. Whether it’s laptops, thin clients, operating systems, IDEs, ticketing systems... > Even then, what if some app does not work on Windows 10? If your business had standardized on Windows 10, t…

And then there are some with very small or very big hands. Would you give them a different hammer, or would you criticize their subpar performance?

Re: If you're hiring, be forthcoming about the dev experience

#13
post #8

The moment after I signed the contract to join a startup, the CTO said "OK, then... Here's your laptop, install Windows and we'll talk later..". My heart sank and felt I took a bad turn in life. I really wanted to work there but I had stopped using Windows for health reasons a long time ago. I wondered if it were rude to resign the same day because there was no way I would use Windows. I thought it was more honest, b…

> I had stopped using Windows for health reasons a long time ago.

How does Windows cause health issues?

Re: If you're hiring, be forthcoming about the dev experience

#15
post #11

Do you think that companies like G are going to be able to hire literally anyone if they start advertising all the mess that they are working around? Why would you write this article from an engineer's standpoint with arguments that will only benefit other engineer's but for some reason is directed at companies? Why not just call it "I'm upset with the dev experience" and be honest about your intentions?

Because presumably Rachel would like companies to look at their policies and change them if the match the poor qualities mentioned here.

Re: If you're hiring, be forthcoming about the dev experience

#16
post #13
post #8

The moment after I signed the contract to join a startup, the CTO said "OK, then... Here's your laptop, install Windows and we'll talk later..". My heart sank and felt I took a bad turn in life. I really wanted to work there but I had stopped using Windows for health reasons a long time ago. I wondered if it were rude to resign the same day because there was no way I would use Windows. I thought it was more honest, b…

> I had stopped using Windows for health reasons a long time ago. How does Windows cause health issues?

Maybe they can’t use it because of health issues that cause them to need special accessibility tools that are unavailable on the platform.

Re: If you're hiring, be forthcoming about the dev experience

#17
post #13
post #8

The moment after I signed the contract to join a startup, the CTO said "OK, then... Here's your laptop, install Windows and we'll talk later..". My heart sank and felt I took a bad turn in life. I really wanted to work there but I had stopped using Windows for health reasons a long time ago. I wondered if it were rude to resign the same day because there was no way I would use Windows. I thought it was more honest, b…

> I had stopped using Windows for health reasons a long time ago. How does Windows cause health issues?

High blood pressure.

Re: If you're hiring, be forthcoming about the dev experience

#18

I've been to companies that outright lie about their development environments. I only enjoy using GNU/Linux so one of my first questions is whether I can use Linux and if I would be forced to use Windows for certain things. One company told me yes for the first one, but when I got there I found Linux was completely unsupported by the draconian IT department. Many companies simply don't know the answer to the second b…

Standardizing a set of supported tools inside an organisation isn’t exactly a stupid corporate protocol, especially if it’s a very large organisation.

Mature IT departments tailor solutions to different classes of users with different needs. If they don’t do that for engineering, that tells you everything you need to know about engineering’s stature in the company.

Re: If you're hiring, be forthcoming about the dev experience

#20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if your 10,000 employees each need a hammer, getting them all the same one, from the same vendor, with the same support contract might just make sense. Edit to your edit: whatever particular sets of tools the business needs. Whether it’s laptops, thin clients, operating systems, IDEs, ticketing systems... > Even then, what if some app does not work on Windows 10? If your business had standardized on Windows 10, t…

And then there are some with very small or very big hands. Would you give them a different hammer, or would you criticize their subpar performance?

I’d probably just pick a better analogy. If the job can be done on the operating system provided, then it can be done equally well by anybody using that operating system. No need to grow bigger hands.
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