Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What I’ve Learned in 45 Years in the Software Industry

bti360.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 371 posts

Re: What I’ve Learned in 45 Years in the Software Industry

#111

Post by wool_gather »

cletus wrote: post #76
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #19

This is very wise: "When I was at GM, you were a failure if your next move was not up—managing more people or taking on bigger, more complex projects. For many, this made for a miserable career path" As I've said before, I think this is a corrosive aspect of the perf/promo process at many FAANGs. The "level" system encourages/pushes people to "upgrade" in this manner, and I think contributes to a number of problems.…

> As I've said before, I think this is a corrosive aspect of the perf/promo process at many FAANGs. So I have to ask: do you or have you worked at a FAANG with these systems? I may be wrong but I suspect you haven't, particularly if you're equating them with more traditional hierarchies. The whole point of a system like this (and I have direct experience at Google and Facebook) is so you can go pretty far as purely a…

> new hires start as a T3

This makes me curious about what T1 and T2 would mean.

Re: What I’ve Learned in 45 Years in the Software Industry

#112

Post by Buttons840 »

noir_lord wrote: post #90
duxup wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First real job I had there was this guy who had one specialization. He was in charge of some software that drove tape drives. Every outside new manager would come in and in some form or another look down on this guy in some form due to his age and generally not doing "a lot" of tasks and new products. It took the local VP to come down and regularly high five him after his product git rave reviews from customers (regu…

It's similar to the systems administrator dilemma. Do your job well, it looks you are not doing very much, why are we paying you? Everything is on fire, it looks you are not doing your job properly, why are we paying you? I've worked with a few engineers over my career like the person you described and frankly they are worth their weight in gold, been able to bank on their output working reliably and consistently ove…

> Do your job well, it looks you are not doing very much, why are we paying you?

> Everything is on fire, it looks you are not doing your job properly, why are we paying you?

Option 3: Everything is on fire, be really quick to respond to your manager and then poke and prod at things in production until it kinda works, repeat daily. This guys a hard worker! I'll have to keep him in mind for a promotion.

Re: What I’ve Learned in 45 Years in the Software Industry

#113

Post by marcus_holmes »

airstrike wrote: post #45
marcus_holmes wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I entered the industry with no degree, having taught myself to code. After approx 15 years as a developer, I decided to get a degree, because it was becoming a problem (Australia is very sensitive to qualifications). I decided to get an MBA because all the hard problems I'd met were people and/or business problems. The tech is generally easy in commercial coding. There is usually a definitive answer, and if not then…

Wow. This must be the very first pro-MBA comment in the history of HN. Feels refreshing!

Being a developer with an MBA is a rare combination ;) Worth it, from my experience.

Re: What I’ve Learned in 45 Years in the Software Industry

#114

Post by rjsw »

karmakaze wrote: post #33
Accujack wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Expecting a talented software engineer to "upgrade" to become a manager of a development team makes exactly the same amount of sense as expecting a talented accountant to gain a bit more skill and suddenly become a lawyer.

It might be closer to a pro athlete retiring from playing and going into coaching, but not so many would be good in that role.

Almost all football managers are ex players.

Re: What I’ve Learned in 45 Years in the Software Industry

#115

Post by marcus_holmes »

tiborsaas wrote: post #94
lrossi wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of resources would you suggest to someone who wants to get better at handling people problems?

You can also try therapy.

Totally agree with this. Knowing how to handle your own emotions is a key "people skill". And therapy really does help with this.

Re: What I’ve Learned in 45 Years in the Software Industry

#116

Post by [deleted] »

one2know wrote: post #102
xyzelement wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you're saying is important for everyone to internalize. I'll spin it like this: Your job satisfaction/pay are a function of your impact. Your impact is a function of your leverage. If you're a "pure coder" who doesn't have any of the other skills you mentioned, your output is incredibly limited. At best, you produce a day's worth of code in a day, but you also require someone to manage you closely to make sure y…

Found the manager. This is just more developer hate drivel. Yes, if you think managers are more valuable, then obviously you are going to say engineering work is "incredibly limited" and manager activities are "orders of magnitude more impactful" Listen, no amount of ass kissing and brown nosing is going to solve actual tech problems.

[deleted]

Re: What I’ve Learned in 45 Years in the Software Industry

#117

Post by marcus_holmes »

lrossi wrote: post #49
marcus_holmes wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I entered the industry with no degree, having taught myself to code. After approx 15 years as a developer, I decided to get a degree, because it was becoming a problem (Australia is very sensitive to qualifications). I decided to get an MBA because all the hard problems I'd met were people and/or business problems. The tech is generally easy in commercial coding. There is usually a definitive answer, and if not then…

What kind of resources would you suggest to someone who wants to get better at handling people problems?

First define your problems ;)

If you want to get into management and deal with those kinds of people problems, then there are lots of management training courses around. An MBA is at the upper end of that range.

If you're having problems fitting into teams and getting along with people (actually quite common in dev teams), then maybe look at therapy or personal coaching. I spent a few years in therapy and it really helped.

If it's office politics and the like - some workplaces are toxic. I can't deal with those even with the training and experience. Life's too short to deal with that bullshit ;)

Re: What I’ve Learned in 45 Years in the Software Industry

#118

Post by gwbas1c »

supernova87a wrote: post #7

One of the tenets though, "6. Be Honest and Acknowledge When You Don’t Fit the Role" only is fair to the person if the team/company also follows that advice. If a team or company does not value, or cannot tell, or does not act if someone is incompetent and unfit for a role, then this advice penalizes those who are honest, and rewards those who are good at faking competence. You need to have a structure of integrity w…

I suspect that "or the role can evolve" implies that some roles come with unrealistic expectations.

I see this when I see job postings with a long laundry list of qualifications and responsibilities. I suspect that part of succeeding in such roles is figuring out how to evolve the role to be more reasonable.

Re: What I’ve Learned in 45 Years in the Software Industry

#119

Post by riku_iki »

duxup wrote: post #56
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #19

This is very wise: "When I was at GM, you were a failure if your next move was not up—managing more people or taking on bigger, more complex projects. For many, this made for a miserable career path" As I've said before, I think this is a corrosive aspect of the perf/promo process at many FAANGs. The "level" system encourages/pushes people to "upgrade" in this manner, and I think contributes to a number of problems.…

First real job I had there was this guy who had one specialization. He was in charge of some software that drove tape drives. Every outside new manager would come in and in some form or another look down on this guy in some form due to his age and generally not doing "a lot" of tasks and new products. It took the local VP to come down and regularly high five him after his product git rave reviews from customers (regu…

That guy could perfectly be some tech lead, establishing his rock solid approaches on team of junior 4-10 engineers and delivering rock solid new products.

Re: What I’ve Learned in 45 Years in the Software Industry

#120

Post by Mauricebranagh »

airstrike wrote: post #45
marcus_holmes wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I entered the industry with no degree, having taught myself to code. After approx 15 years as a developer, I decided to get a degree, because it was becoming a problem (Australia is very sensitive to qualifications). I decided to get an MBA because all the hard problems I'd met were people and/or business problems. The tech is generally easy in commercial coding. There is usually a definitive answer, and if not then…

Wow. This must be the very first pro-MBA comment in the history of HN. Feels refreshing!

A mature MBA done after 10-15 years experience is very different that some one who went from BSC direct to a MBA (to game immigration hurdles in a lot of cases)
Post reply on HN