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Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

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

#211

Post by Andrew_nenakhov »

phphphphp wrote: post #24

I’ve worked with people who could have written this post with the stats and how they consider themselves, but they were awful to work with. People didn’t challenge them because it was exhausting, because they knew best, despite their constant churning out of garbage code that the business didn’t have the guts to address. That’s not to say you’re bad or your code is bad, but it’s definitely worth considering whether t…

From my experience, a person claiming to be a 10x developer probably isn't one. All real performers I knew were pretty humble people.

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

#214

Post by thisisbrians »

100011_100001 wrote: post #40
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…

The pivot I have been debating is to become a Lead Development Manager with the express purpose of enabling everyone else, removing obstacles, creating better processes etc. My problem is that I love code much more than talking to people all day. I have been mentoring Jr Devs for a while now in an official capacity which helps. I like the idea of "make systemic changes to help your peers become more effective". So th…

Maybe consider a Staff Engineer type role at an established and well-respected firm? Still mostly IC if you can land the right role, I think, but more focused on the meta stuff that enabled the whole team like tools and automation. Would love input from others as I've not actually worked in such a role before.

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

#217

Post by pg_bot »

dvt wrote: post #151

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 t…

This is a pretty weird standard that I don't think any other professional would be held to. You can be one of the best programmers in the world and be completely anonymous.

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

#218

Post by 908B64B197 »

> I never set out to become some kind of uber developer, but in the last couple of years I have noticed a shift in behaviors around me. It started with little things. Tech Leads inviting me into meetings to express my perspective on things. Developers pinging me when I have never worked with them, because "you probably know the answer". Being asked to weigh in specific Code Reviews outside my department. Lately if I join a meeting with people I haven't talked to before they already know who I am. Even my manager has started introducing me by just saying "This is X, you've probably heard of him".

Sounds like you have ownership of most of your company's engineering. What's your personal ownership in said company?

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

#219

Post by leaflets2 »

omarhaneef wrote: post #195
100011_100001 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pivot I have been debating is to become a Lead Development Manager with the express purpose of enabling everyone else, removing obstacles, creating better processes etc. My problem is that I love code much more than talking to people all day. I have been mentoring Jr Devs for a while now in an official capacity which helps. I like the idea of "make systemic changes to help your peers become more effective". So th…

If you want to just code, just code. I accept you're a gifted coder, and that you're better than your peers. Good, then do exactly that. Being good at mentoring people is only vaguely correlated with being good at code. IMHO, the main factor that will make you good at something is caring about it, and if you don't want to talk to people you'll waste your skills. There is someone out there who would love to talk to pe…

> There is someone out there who would love to ... Let them do it

It seems to me, though, that OP vastly much better at that, than the others available. And that his co-workers have noticed this too.

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

#220

Post by dvt »

pg_bot wrote: post #217
dvt wrote: post #151

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 t…

This is a pretty weird standard that I don't think any other professional would be held to. You can be one of the best programmers in the world and be completely anonymous.

I disagree. Like all disciplines, programming/software engineering at its apex is fundamentally a collaborative one. There are no "hermit" mathematicians or physicists. Ideas necessarily must be bounced around and refined.
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