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Software development is a loser’s game

thehosk.medium.com

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Re: Software development is a loser’s game

#4
This really seems to hinge on:

>Why do I say this?

>Amateur software developers dislike

Is that a thing / the problem?

I appreciate that laundry list can contribute to writing good code, but I kinda wonder how much that has to do with it vs ... just not writing good code, for some other reason (time, bad incentives).

I've only been coding professionally for a handful of years, but I feel like I see a lot of reliance on various ideas and systems to produce good code. Programmers seem to think that they can enforce various systems and ideas to MAKE people write good code . While I think those can help, often I think those are used as all or nothing type measuring sticks.

Personally I think an individual programmer's choices are more (or maybe less) complex than that, as are the outcomes, regardless of some laundry list.

Re: Software development is a loser’s game

#7
This explains a lot of my interactions with my peers. Some groups of developers need hand holding, guidance, feedback, and correction. Continuously. The other group just gets stuff done and get normal feedback I”d expect from my own work. When one of the first group complains about code, I try to explain why it’s written that way. When the second group complains, I ask what we can do to fix it. Amateur vs pro may actually be a useful distinction here.

Re: Software development is a loser’s game

#8
Definitely agree! Nowadays many developers skip over the design patterns, thinking abstractly, etc which over times causes technical debt.

Many companies have very good processes in place and the above does not hold true for their employees. I was once at a company and was blown away with how well their code was structured, processes, etc I literally had no work to do (very rare).

Re: Software development is a loser’s game

#9
One of the problems I faced is that the university didn't teach TDD, I couldn't find any books about TDD and every single programming course didn't even have a section about TDD. It's like this was some kind of secret knowledge that only few had. I was only able to learn TDD when I joined one corporation and it was like a new world to me. I tried to learn as much as I could and then carry that to next jobs. It's better now, but I feel like this knowledge is somehow still not shared as much. People still, when they create a course, they commit little time to testability and explaining how you can validate what they say. I find it frustrating then when new people come to work, they severely lack testing skills and that is not a fault of their own, just there is very little real world examples and tutorials. Some open source projects have good tests coverage so that's a great way to learn.
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