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

Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 519 posts

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#151

Post by dvt »

Imo you can't be a 10x+ developer without extracurricular activities. That is: writing books, academic papers, OSS contributions, GitHub projects with 100+ stars, blogging, conference talks, being in the top ~5% of Stack Overflow, etc. Merely "being good at your job" is just the baseline (and often not even an important one; rockstar engineers get fired often; Max Howell was famously not hired by Google; etc.). Not trying to be a jerk, I just think you're seriously overvaluing your ability.

Sounds like you hate your job though, so I'd probably quit/take a break and re-evaluate what you want out of life.

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#152

Post by 100011_100001 »

tsss wrote: post #134
100011_100001 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, that is exactly what I don't want. Pretending I am this amazingly productive developer and my code is just trash. I just checked. In 2021, only two defects were created against my specific code changes. If I had to home into a weakness of mine is that sometimes I solve today's problem well, but don't think extensively about how tomorrow's problem in that space might look like. The struggle is between creating sim…

It's not about behavioural defects. It's that the _code_ is trash. It is unmaintainable and slows down all future changes, exactly because the person who wrote it didn't take the time to think about the future or even good architecture in the present. Every time I touch their code I have to almost redo their work because: - It's impossible to understand what is going on (For example when people load huge json or sql…

It sounds like you have personal experience in this. I hear you. From what I have observed through code reviews that I, or others, have looked at that doesn't happen with my code unless there is a very fundamental shift. Even then I try to keep my inputs and outputs clean so that pieces can be removed if need be. Of course I am not always as successful as I would like to be.

Now my first 2-4 years, that happened a lot, and I am not going to claim that I was fast. I was slow and either the code review would point something out that I would literary have to start from scratch or the next person that touched it would have to. This was actually the driver for me to focus more on simplicity. I basically discovered a direct correlation between complexity and how bad my code was.

To this day, if I catch myself doing something overtly complex it's a sign that my solution to the current problem is inadequate.

Ironically, my response would be the same if my code was trash. So I won't be able to convince you regardless.

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#153

Post by prlambert »

You're at the wrong company. I've worked at a startup, at Twitter, and at Google and each time there was notable "raising of the bar" in the talent I was around. I know there's a lot of Google hate on HN, and it's such a big company it is true not every team is mind blowing, but... I've been there 5 years and I still have serious imposter syndrome and am constantly amazed by my colleagues. I get to work with some crazy smart and productive people. The suggestion isn't "go work for Google" (but maybe you should) but find a group of people that push you and amaze you and make you want to improve. They definitely are out there.

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#154

Post by whiddershins »

Some heuristics:

20% of a team usually does 80% of the work.

The square root of team members or employees generally produce around 50% of the work.

You are 10% if your team producing 80% of the work?

Seems like you are in an outlier situation, maybe you do need to seek out peers that challenge you more, even if that is moving teams or moving jobs.

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#155

Post by gabereiser »

I think it’s time to find an environment where you’ll be challenged. You currently aren’t even though you’re exceptional at what you do. If you’re still hungry for more, it’s time to move on and challenge yourself somewhere new. If you’re currently a 10x dev at SpaceX or something then I’m afraid you’ve hit the stratosphere of mere mortals and have graduated to iddqd land. (Shout out to the SpaceX team killing it).

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#156

Post by dsr_ »

"This feeling of loneliness got quantified when the commit number came up. The problem is people just accept whatever I say. I used to get challenged in some of my decisions, which I always appreciated since I could create better solutions. Nowadays people just accept whatever I say as the best way.

It feels like I don't have peers."

This chunk here is consistent across fields. It means that you are the big fish in this pond.

Some people like that. Some people hate it. It looks like you're in the latter camp, and that means that you want to look for a job elsewhere, in an organization which is bigger in one specific metric: the number of people who can teach and mentor you.

Ascertaining that metric is very difficult.

You should also be aware that if you find such a group, you may not like it as much as you think you will. Humans have a lot invested in status, and your status will decrease significantly if you move to a group where you are merely better than average, or perhaps a little below average. New job energy may mask that for some months.

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#157

Post by floorescent »

100011_100001 wrote: post #86
symby wrote: post #75

Tldr; Start coding less. Start teaching more. It is super fantastic that you have been able to learn, grow, and achieve so much. You do sound like a super star. It also sounds like you have reached a point where transition is required. I respectfully disagree with those who say "get a new job". This may be a good idea, but it is certainly not a solution to your issues which are very likely to come with you wherever y…

This mirrors others replies. I think you have all collectively convinced me that I need to focus more on helping others. I do like your phrasing a lot though. I wish I could mirror your communication skills. Your flow from complement to expressing your opinion is stellar. You used the word "I" twice in your reply, I've used it six times in this reply alone.

Thank you. A last thought... yours is a most excellent problem to have!

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#158

Post by pawelmurias »

UmbertoNoEco wrote: post #138

If you are a truly a 10X developer(TM pending) and this is not one of those copy-paste kids love these days, you could found your own company or consulting agency.With the huge competitive advantage you have (probably unique in the world ) : a 10-men-strength worth development capability that only have to maintain 1 family. If mere mortals have founded companies solo or in pairs, imagine what you could do with 5-10X…

A 10x difference in productivity between super efficient developers and shitty ones isn't as rare as you think.

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#159

Post by _jplc »

100011_100001 wrote: post #86
symby wrote: post #75

Tldr; Start coding less. Start teaching more. It is super fantastic that you have been able to learn, grow, and achieve so much. You do sound like a super star. It also sounds like you have reached a point where transition is required. I respectfully disagree with those who say "get a new job". This may be a good idea, but it is certainly not a solution to your issues which are very likely to come with you wherever y…

This mirrors others replies. I think you have all collectively convinced me that I need to focus more on helping others. I do like your phrasing a lot though. I wish I could mirror your communication skills. Your flow from complement to expressing your opinion is stellar. You used the word "I" twice in your reply, I've used it six times in this reply alone.

I feel so identified with your feelings and came up with the same plan: Focus on helping others grow. Next year I'm moving on my company to a new team which is focused on improving tools, processes and the developer experience overall. Time will tell if the plan turns into a solution.

Hope the best for you and your mental health in all of this :)

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#160

Post by omegalulw »

ctvo wrote: post #16

I think you're an above average developer working at a below average company. This could be the root of all your problems. Nothing is more frustrating than working with peers you know aren't carrying their weight. Do you want to be an engineering leader? This is what you are, regardless of your official title at your company. Engineering leaders are judged by how much better they make everyone else. You may hear the…

> I think you're an above average developer working at a below average company.

This. I'd conjecture that this has led to OP becoming overconfident.

I also think that OP should not be a manager. If one dev is doing 70% of the work then that's either bad hiring practices or micromanagement where other team members are not trusted to deliver complex projects.

Post reply on HN