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Expectations of professional software engineers

adamj.eu

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Re: Expectations of professional software engineers

#91

Post by throwaway2037 »

jstimpfle wrote: post #43
omega3 wrote: post #30

Having worked in Unity I'd take engineering advice from their top execs with a grain of salt.

This guy in particular has collected some serious credibility. In the past he's worked at Insomniac Games. He is also credited for popularizing Data-Oriented Design and has delivered at least one talk that went viral and that video thumbnail of him in his red flower shirt has become a meme for a no-bullshit and requirement-focused engineering approach. Go check him out on Youtube.

You wrote: >

I'm confused. The blog post is written by Adam Johnson. Are you referring to Mike Acton or Adam Johnson?

I never heard of Adam Johnson before this HN post. From his books, he appears to be an expert in Django. Yes, I agree about Mike Acton and his ideas around Data-Oriented Design. It sounds like a very interesting approach to programming in a resource constrained environment.

Re: Expectations of professional software engineers

#92

Post by jvanderbot »

BlargMcLarg wrote: post #79
jvanderbot wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you only compare the sermon to the hymns, it does seem a little redundant. But if I look around my workplace, clear, frequent communication is absolutely a huge need.

Again, this is purely anecdotal and at best rational only. Our field is already loaded with rationality, and most of our "this is clearly better" cases fail to reveal any improvements in case studies. If people are so certain it is better and believe it is important, let them stake money on it and do research. Until then, the cat is both dead and alive.

You're kidding, right? Nearly every book I've read on management emphasizes communication all the way down. It just comes in many forms.

Clear lines of communication

Culture of communication

Strong vision and storytelling

Open discussions and inclusive of disagreements

Managing "up"

etc

Re: Expectations of professional software engineers

#94

Post by anikom15 »

horsawlarway wrote: post #12

Personally - I don't see a lot of value in this list (I read all 50 items and watched the video and I regret wasting the time). There are certainly some valuable concepts - but the presentation is fairly incoherent (including the video of the talk he gives) and not particularly helpful. Many of these items are utterly unrelated: Some are fairly specific to gaming (profiling/memory layout/timing) some are basic profes…

Profiling, memory layout, and timing is specific to gaming? That’s funny because I’ve had to do all three and I don’t make games for a living.

Re: Expectations of professional software engineers

#95

Post by CoastalCoder »

isitmadeofglass wrote: post #46
vubui wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it has a so what problem. It sounds nice but then so...? I failed to understand what exactly the author wanted to convince people to do. Expectations - for who? Let's say someone does exactly this, then failed to actually ship something that people want then it's as useless as not knowing the list at all.

> I failed to understand what exactly the author wanted to convince people to do. He’s writing a list as part of his imaginary shower argument with his boss and coworkers as to why they are all inferior and he’s perfect and why all the problems they are facing are easily attributed to his list of 50 points of things he feels he does that they are failing to live up to. At least that’s my take away.

If he's arguing with his boss in the shower, that may indicate he's a bad communicator.

Re: Expectations of professional software engineers

#96

Post by strix_varius »

projectazorian wrote: post #90

> 39. I never use the phrase “future proof” when referring to my work. > Future-proofing is “100% a fool’s errand”. “You can’t pre-solve problems you have no information of.” You can't pre-solve problems you are unaware of but in most software engineering two problems are very predictable: 1. The system will have to handle more load in the future. 2. Someone will eventually want to change the business logic. It is wi…

Indeed, anticipating the likely future points of change is one of the hallmarks of a senior engineer.

Re: Expectations of professional software engineers

#97

Post by ummonk »

jvanderbot wrote: post #54
horsawlarway wrote: post #12

Personally - I don't see a lot of value in this list (I read all 50 items and watched the video and I regret wasting the time). There are certainly some valuable concepts - but the presentation is fairly incoherent (including the video of the talk he gives) and not particularly helpful. Many of these items are utterly unrelated: Some are fairly specific to gaming (profiling/memory layout/timing) some are basic profes…

I loved the early and often emphasis on communication. That gets swept under the rug far too often. This list makes it clear that communication (of designs, of status, of workarounds, etc) is vital for the professional software engineer.

Kind of ironic to have communication emphasized so much by someone who can’t concisely and clearly communicate his expectations.

Re: Expectations of professional software engineers

#99

Post by agentultra »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #95
isitmadeofglass wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I failed to understand what exactly the author wanted to convince people to do. He’s writing a list as part of his imaginary shower argument with his boss and coworkers as to why they are all inferior and he’s perfect and why all the problems they are facing are easily attributed to his list of 50 points of things he feels he does that they are failing to live up to. At least that’s my take away.

If he's arguing with his boss in the shower, that may indicate he's a bad communicator.

If he’s arguing with his boss in the shower he’s probably going to be fired for inappropriate behaviour.
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