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Life's too short to write shitty software

team.adzerk.com

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Re: Life's too short to write shitty software

#101

Post by fleitz »

gaius wrote: post #99
fleitz wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, I got paid to hack a VMS mainframe, buffer overflows, etc at 22, trust me it wasn't in the official job description but I found the company $3 million in lost rev. Honestly, unless you enjoy reading about the company you work for in Techcrunch I don't get the whole startup hype for employees. Founders are somewhat likely to get a decent cheque but employees are not. For employees the EV doesn't seem to make a…

How much of that did you see? At my last employer, I was on a very small team that wrote code that made GBP 2M/year pure profit (minus the salaries of 3-4 people for a couple of weeks, in the first year). That 2M covered the bonuses of two execs, and I got a raise of slightly below inflation (and left shortly after - and they had no idea why).

Nothing for that project.

However I was a quick study and learned that truly there was no I in team. I created a win-win situation, and soon our sales team was dramatically outperforming other regions. Turns out the sales staff knew who to call who already had the service and merely needed to be added to the billing system. There was no way that that much revenue could be sold by one person, it really did require a team.

The worst thing I found was a report that listed expiring credit cards and allowed entry of arbitrary dates in the future for which to run the report. I had to wait until the C-levels visited and hand them a stack of paper with the numbers on them to get anyone to pay attention to it.

aside: Seriously Oracle for OCaml? That's awesome, I'm a big F# fan.

Re: Life's too short to write shitty software

#102

Post by Drbble »

mkramlich wrote: post #93
wpietri wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that not all startups are good. But I think your odds are better at a startup. At IBM, you're 0.00025% of the company. At a startup, it's more like 10 or 20 percent. You have a lot more ability to shape your job and the company so that it's non-shitty.

Further: if you're at a large company and do something that saves/makes that company say $5M, you will get somewhere between 0% and 0.00025% percent of that money as a bonus. Whereas if you're at a startup, and have 10-20% ownership, then when you save/make the company $5M, there's a good chance you will get 10-20% of that. (Speaking in rough terms, of course. But you get the point.)

Do you have any backing for that? Usually at a big company, your team makes the 5mil. Good luck conjuring 5mil at a small company with no scaling infrastructure and few users. And not working for a CEO or CTO or whoever who takes credit for your work. Sure it's possible, but it's a gamble not everyone feels like taking.

Re: Life's too short to write shitty software

#103

Post by Drbble »

Wickk wrote: post #90
pelemele wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Comfort zone - if you ever worked in corp world you know what I'm talking about (he mentioned that he enjoys family time after 8 hour work shift so I would like to know how he keeps up to date with skill set). 2. I've seen it myself at least two times - no warning, nothing. Thank you for your service, here is you severance package - 2 weeks of pay and application for COBRA coverage.

I don't understand your stance on family time vs skill set? My day to day is usually like this: Get up, shower, pick up my house, go to work for 8 hours, come home where I make dinner and invariably end up cleaning my kitchen. Then i sit down with my boyfriend and just do whatever so that we're spending time together. This past weekend I managed to pick up a book on Go and hoping to deploy something through appengine…

You have a rather small family. That's cool, but not everyone does.

Re: Life's too short to write shitty software

#104

Post by aswanson »

lusr wrote: post #98
ajross wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One warning with this kind of behavior is that it doesn't actually insulate you from the insanity of the environment. Some of your cool stuff is going to be buried because people don't understand it and won't buy in, or because it obsoletes something they did, etc... People will complain about you "not being a team player" when you do things they don't expect. Some managers simply can't handle employees like this and…

This is why I have to wonder how old the parent is. When you're young and have lots to learn, sure, take on a lot and learn. But as I've become older I've decided I'm not interested in putting in the extra time just to make my boss wealthier. Time is my greatest asset and I need to manage it with predictability. Time I spend making somebody else wealthier when I could be spending that time making my own business prof…

That second paragraph should be engraved.

Re: Life's too short to write shitty software

#105

Post by advice2012 »

As for quitting- never quit unless you must. And don't sabotage yourself to get yourself fired. You suck less than you think you do, and if you work hard enough, you will hopefully find something somewhere to transition to.

I worked in golden handcuffs, unable to leave because of the good pay, benefits. I felt I was getting less marketable by staying there, and that I couldn't work somewhere else. Friends told me about other opportunities and I ignored them because I had no motivation- I was miserable with the job, the politics, everything. Luckily, an old co-worker provided me with a great opportunity. For others I knew who were even more able than I was, it also took spending a lot of time polishing his image and interview skills. You used to be able to just get jobs because of your resume. But these days, an interview can be like a black belt test. You have to show skills as if you were applying for an enrty level position, mid level, senior and executive all at once. Once I broke those handcuffs, I knew I was better off. It is scary, but it is worth it. I still don't know if I'm doing what I should be doing, but it has got to be better than hating every day at work.

And when you accept the offer at another company, treat the first company with respect, but tell them honestly what you think in a way that you'd be proud if your assessment of them went public.

Re: Life's too short to write shitty software

#106

Post by mkramlich »

Drbble wrote: post #102
mkramlich wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Further: if you're at a large company and do something that saves/makes that company say $5M, you will get somewhere between 0% and 0.00025% percent of that money as a bonus. Whereas if you're at a startup, and have 10-20% ownership, then when you save/make the company $5M, there's a good chance you will get 10-20% of that. (Speaking in rough terms, of course. But you get the point.)

Do you have any backing for that? Usually at a big company, your team makes the 5mil. Good luck conjuring 5mil at a small company with no scaling infrastructure and few users. And not working for a CEO or CTO or whoever who takes credit for your work. Sure it's possible, but it's a gamble not everyone feels like taking.

> Usually at a big company, your team makes the 5mil.

I don't think we live on the same planet. :) I'm talking about modern/recent software development roles in the US/West. Are you talking about a Wall Street job? Are you talking about a banker or a full partner at a financial firm or law firm? I'm talking about an employee. And I'm talking about the general case, not the outlier cases.

Re: Life's too short to write shitty software

#107

Post by snikeris »

lusr wrote: post #98
ajross wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One warning with this kind of behavior is that it doesn't actually insulate you from the insanity of the environment. Some of your cool stuff is going to be buried because people don't understand it and won't buy in, or because it obsoletes something they did, etc... People will complain about you "not being a team player" when you do things they don't expect. Some managers simply can't handle employees like this and…

This is why I have to wonder how old the parent is. When you're young and have lots to learn, sure, take on a lot and learn. But as I've become older I've decided I'm not interested in putting in the extra time just to make my boss wealthier. Time is my greatest asset and I need to manage it with predictability. Time I spend making somebody else wealthier when I could be spending that time making my own business prof…

Have another look at edw519's second point (emphasis added):

> 2. You'll probably have to make time for extra work. Shouldn't be a problem if you're a good programmer in an enterprise.

The point being that you can do these things on company time if you complete your day-to-day tasks efficiently.

Your points are more valid if you substitute 'energy' for 'time' in your reply. If you spend eight hours completely zoned in while working for the man, you might not have much energy left for your personal projects when you get home. You can mitigate this somewhat by working on your personal projects before work.

Or you can take the Einsteinian approach and not sweat your day job while you revolutionize physics in your spare time.

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