Hmm: Poster vineet's account was created 1120 days ago, has 112 karma, and average karma of 1.12. Hacked, a coincidence, or am I missing something? Is 112 part of some number like pi or e?
Why the new guy can't code
21–30 of 49 posts
Re: Why the new guy can't code
#22In a few years of experience, I have come across 2 rather bad developers where one of them outpaced the other by a mile in the race of 'Suck'. Both were fairly recent hires and I can't bring myself to think how shortcoming of such magnitude can go unseen.
I imagine that a person can get very far with BS and co-workers usually are the back-stop to those antics. If they are not, they should have absolute permission to call on the manager to verify someone else's competency.
In addition, I find it rather offensive for a person to have to learn on the job after it becomes evident that the resume, linked in profile or any other point of reference was embellished.
Le sigh,- without painting a group with a broad brush, but I see PHP as a gateway language as more folks try to pivot into applying for programming jobs. I've seen enough this year alone to turn me into a skeptic.
Re: Why the new guy can't code
#23> Smart and Gets Things Done. (Academia is teeming with > people who are the former but not the latter. Tired stereotype. Academics at the top of their game know how to get shit done, very much so even. But it's different shit.
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Re: Why the new guy can't code
#24In a few years of experience, I have come across 2 rather bad developers where one of them outpaced the other by a mile in the race of 'Suck'. Both were fairly recent hires and I can't bring myself to think how shortcoming of such magnitude can go unseen. I imagine that a person can get very far with BS and co-workers usually are the back-stop to those antics. If they are not, they should have absolute permission to…
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Re: Why the new guy can't code
#25I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions in our industry. Software developers, REALLLY, need to get over ourselves.
Bad development practices and bad coding, has not (as far as I have ever heard) killed any company.
I would like to be shown at least one example, where bad software killed the software company ?
For crying out loud, Windows was 'bad' until Win 2000+. Don't forget WinME.
The first version of Netscape was horrible. Internet Explorer was absolutely, horrendous.
Norton Anti-virus became more horrible with every release until they slimmed it down recently.
I was recently reading questions asked by Larry Page on Java's forums, and it is CLEAR that he was NOT an 'A-grade' Java programmer.
Twitter's early versions kept dying - under what could conceivably be argued is bad software development - yet they still thrive today.
I am pretty sure that the first versions of Facebook sucked ass too. Developers get better over time...you know how ? By sucking, making mistakes, learning and improving. Not by being awesome all the time.
So we, as developers, need to get over ourselves and realize that we are just one tool in the tool belt for company success. You can build the best product on the planet, if you have no sales (assuming that the market is rational) and no VC financing you are dead. Finito. Kaput. Gone.
Kapish ?
Edit: Sorry if this comes off as belligerent, I am just tired of the stereotypes. If developers don't start off as bad, how do they become good ? Plus, having the most efficient sorting algorithm will not let one software company win over the other - unless you are selling sorting algorithms, of course.
Re: Why the new guy can't code
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
No you won't. Academia thought me how to be a better programmer, about compiler construction, functional programming the theory behind OO programming, prolog, how databases actually work (IE not just some random subset of the sql language) how 3D graphics work (including how to compute light and how you go from a mesh of triangles to an image on a screen), Haskell, SVN and how to work on large projects with others (i…
As a hiring manager, my 'bias' against CS degrees, such as it exists, is that they don't actually tell me much of anything. Individuals have the capability to learn "compiler construction, functional programming the theory behind OO programming, prolog, how databases actually work", et al, independently of a degree, and yet, having that degree doesn't seem to actually guarantee that a potential hire understands any o…
Then you shouldn't have a bias against CS degrees; you should simply see them as zero-information attributes.
(Which, I think, is correct in a general sense: a resume should get a candidate to an interview, not earn the job on its own.)
Re: Why the new guy can't code
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a hiring manager, my 'bias' against CS degrees, such as it exists, is that they don't actually tell me much of anything. Individuals have the capability to learn "compiler construction, functional programming the theory behind OO programming, prolog, how databases actually work", et al, independently of a degree, and yet, having that degree doesn't seem to actually guarantee that a potential hire understands any o…
Then you shouldn't have a bias against CS degrees; you should simply see them as zero-information attributes. (Which, I think, is correct in a general sense: a resume should get a candidate to an interview, not earn the job on its own.)
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Re: Why the new guy can't code
#28I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions in our industry. Software developers, REALLLY, need to get over ourselves. Bad development practices and bad coding, has not (as far as I have ever heard) killed any company. I would like to be shown at least one example, where bad software killed the software company ? For crying out loud, Windows was 'bad' until Win 2000+. Don't forget WinME. The first version of Ne…
Bad development practices can and do kill companies, although in those cases the cause of death is usually considered "failed to innovate" or something similar. Accumulate enough technical debt and you'll be unable to move very quickly for fear of breaking things. After code starts breaking expect to add processes on top of processes, which may stop the breakage but only slow things down even further.
That's not to say that bad programming is the only reason companies fail to innovate, but if the code gets bad enough things will show down and newer competitors will overtake you.
Re: Why the new guy can't code
#29I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions in our industry. Software developers, REALLLY, need to get over ourselves. Bad development practices and bad coding, has not (as far as I have ever heard) killed any company. I would like to be shown at least one example, where bad software killed the software company ? For crying out loud, Windows was 'bad' until Win 2000+. Don't forget WinME. The first version of Ne…
Bad development practices can and do kill companies, although in those cases the cause of death is usually considered "failed to innovate" or something similar. Accumulate enough technical debt and you'll be unable to move very quickly for fear of breaking things. After code starts breaking expect to add processes on top of processes, which may stop the breakage but only slow things down even further. That's not to s…
As I asked in my response, Please provide examples.
Bad coding does not mean 'failed to innovate'. Digg.com innovated with the Digg button, but according to Kevin they had a bunch of 'bad coders' doing 'bad coding'.
Re: Why the new guy can't code
#30I agree with a lot of this article, but the slam on Charles Simonyi was fairly random to the point of making me wonder if the author is just ignorant of software development history or straight out trolling.
I've never liked Hungarian Notation either, but that doesn't change the fact that during his years at Xerox PARC and Microsoft Simonyi exemplified "Smart and Gets Things Done".