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The worst programmer I know

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Re: The worst programmer I know

#491

Post by ytoawwhra92 »

wonderwonder wrote: post #326
crazygringo wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...or broke it down into smaller achievable tickets that continuously added to their points totals. These teams were filled with happy stress free developers. But that is part of the point of scrum. To break down stories into consistently stress-free achievable stories, rather than big risky ones filled with unknowns. I'm not saying this was a good workplace, it doesn't sound like it at all. But to me, it sounds li…

OP here. You are right, but the minimum point totals eliminates any benefits that can be achieved from scrum, it forces engineers to incentivize survival over project momentum. If a story is really a 3 pointer but I know that if I close 2 3 point stories in a week then I am pipped, suddenly those 3 point stories are 5 point stories. On the teams that played fair, it was a mix of sr. and jr. and the sr. measuring that…

> teams that played fair

What does "played fair" mean? Did this organsiation have a fixed definition of the value of a story point?

EDIT: The reason I ask is because when story points are used "correctly" their value is defined entirely relative to the previous output of the team which produced the estimate. Like, their purpose is to allow dev teams to do relative estimation (which is pretty easy to do), but also enable someone to produce absolute estimates based on the team's track record of delivery. Team says a story is a 5 pointer? Query previously delivered stories which the team also said were 5 points and if there's enough data you'll be able to forecast with reasonable certainty how long it will take them to deliver this new story. Used this way there's no "fair" value of a story point - it doesn't matter if one team uses point values in the range 0 - 1 while another uses point values in the range 1,000 - 1,000,000.

The whole thing breaks if you start comparing point values across teams, or say that 1 point is 1 day's work or whatever.

Re: The worst programmer I know

#492

Post by progmetaldev »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #483
ssss11 wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did an internship during uni as an electronics technician repairing handheld, vehicle mount rugged terminals, and base stations (rf network controllers before 802.11 arrived). Each repair job had the same priority but some were much simpler than others - one month I thought I’d take the base station jobs to learn and because no one else was repairing them. They took longer to fix but obviously were more crucial to…

So without someone like you they would literally not repair some units? I guess they chuck and replace them?

I have been in this position where my boss (the owner!) actually was willing to throw equipment away, but thought he could charge the client both for the new equipment, and for reinstalling. Unfortunately in the small business world, I fear this happens WAY more than even I could imagine, having dealt with it.

Re: The worst programmer I know

#493

Post by progmetaldev »

Stratoscope wrote: post #304

Some 20 years ago, I worked at a moderately large software company that sold a desktop application for Mac and Windows. The team had mostly Mac experience and they were just getting their feet wet with Windows. So naturally the Windows version had some problems. At the time, I was known as a "Windows expert", so they hired me to help improve that version and help the team get more familiar with Windows programming. I…

I know it's too late now, but you are the type of developer that makes our profession an actual craft. Sharing knowledge is the biggest benefit to provide other developers, and too few that decide to go that route are rewarded for it. If it weren't for developers like you, we wouldn't be anywhere close to where we currently are in the software world. I try to give back knowledge as much as possible, because it's not just about the one business you work for, it's also about building up somebody. Know that you're appreciated, even if you aren't getting direct thanks for it!

Re: The worst programmer I know

#494

Post by progmetaldev »

gcheong wrote: post #447
whirlwin wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an odd practice. Not sure who conducted the review, but managers especially should be familiar with the concept of coaching, and recognize that you were doing a great deal of it. I am a technical manager myself and spend a lot of time on coaching team members too.

20 years ago when I started there wasn’t anything I experienced that could be called coaching, mentoring, or leveling up. Sure, I could get some time from a more experienced developer to get another set of eyes on a particularly hard problem if I wasn’t able to come up with a solution but for the most part I was just expected to work with minimal explanation or direction. Very little in the way of code reviews as wel…

Unfortunately, it hasn't changed much in small business. I try to do the same with my time, but often junior developers want to tackle the newest things, rather than the old that needs maintenance. The ones that listen to you often jump ship for bigger and better things, and I don't take credit for it, but I like to think I helped them along at least a little in their pursuit of more knowledge.

Re: The worst programmer I know

#495

Post by 0x6461188A »

There is something about metrics that messes the thing being measured.

Suppose the bank Tim worked at decided to measure the number of pairing sessions each developer participated in—I suspect this too would destroy the team.

When you measure people doing X, you are really measuring people pretending to do X.

Re: The worst programmer I know

#496

Post by dash2 »

ramraj07 wrote: post #490
tfgg wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Harry Nyquist isn't exactly an unknown engineer who doesn't have his own achievements, though - not sure why people are saying he would be fired in a modern company!

He doesn’t have his own achievements? I have heard of the Nyquist frequency, the nyquist limit, the nyquist sampling rate and the Shannon nyquist theorem. As far as I know no other individual has had this many “things” named after him.

The GP used a double negative.

Re: The worst programmer I know

#497

Post by progmetaldev »

worik wrote: post #463
tfgg wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Harry Nyquist isn't exactly an unknown engineer who doesn't have his own achievements, though - not sure why people are saying he would be fired in a modern company!

In the modern company good engineers are not valued. Engineering excellence is not a prerequisite to business success. Managers know this. Why else many things any one of us could list from the computing business.

I agree with you 100%. Management does not have an eye for software that is easy to maintain and continue to make money on 5 or 10 years down the line. Most management is thinking short term, how do I get money in MY pocket right NOW. Who cares how the business does in the long term, they'll jump ship and move on. It is the engineering that often makes a difference for long lived companies, it's just that usually the engineers and/or management isn't around long enough to reap the rewards. I try to balance engineering with product cost (I'm lucky enough where I can see the "numbers"). I try to give more to the clients that pay more, or at least create something that I can reuse in the future, while making sure what I deliver is stable and not a big ball of spaghetti to make the next developer/engineer cry at night.

Re: The worst programmer I know

#498

Post by Arainach »

AdrianB1 wrote: post #367
TheRealPomax wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also doesn't get people promoted to that position just because that's what they're doing. Because politics.

Is that a higher level position ("promoted" suggests that)? In my FMCG IT department I am the TL & "technical architect", but I am on the same level as a senior developer, just having in the top 3 priorities the coaching and mentorship of all technical people in the department and no code expected (I do write some as examples or templates). What is the TL level in Google vs developers and architects?

No different. TLs are Software Engineers in title, track, compensation, and performance reviews. Most TLs are L5/6 (Senior or Staff).

Re: The worst programmer I know

#499

Post by deprecative »

elliotec wrote: post #357
shortrounddev2 wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am the same way with my coworkers. I spend a lot of time helping juniors with their code and doing code review. My boss talked to me and told me to stop helping out so much and focus on my own tickets.

It’s a balance. Sometimes it is worth spending a ton of time leveling up your team (teaching them to fish), and sometimes it’s much more helpful to have you do the work yourself (we ran out of food and you’re our best fisherman).

I get why people say this but let's be real. You optimize for the review cycle. If I'm told not to help as much I'm dropping it down until I'm told to help more. Then I'll correct the minimal amount necessary.

Re: The worst programmer I know

#500

Post by fn-mote »

jacobsenscott wrote: post #295
beebmam wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your leadership is tossing these incredibly valuable engineers aside, then it's time for you to toss that leadership out. You can do that by leaving, or talking to management about this, or unionizing. It's crazy to me tech workers aren't unionizing anyway.

When you can get a bootcamp certificate, and then get two remote jobs and coast at both for 12 months, and then repeat, what could a union do for you?

Are you currently doing this? Living in an expensive region like Western Europe/North America? If this first or second hand, let's hear more about it.
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