Augmenting a legacy government / mission-critical app with a chrome extension was the highlight front-end experience of my career.
You're not a senior engineer until you've worked on a legacy project (2023)
61–70 of 431 posts
Re: You're not a senior engineer until you've worked on a legacy project (2023)
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
Engineering isn't about working on the most interesting problems. It's about getting stuff done and management happy. Here, parent explained in detail how to get stuff done, management very happy and secure their position for years to come.
It depends on your goals, though. Depending on the company, that can be a very good way to be treated as a cost centre to be minimised.
Yes, let's minimize the only dev working on legacy software.
Re: You're not a senior engineer until you've worked on a legacy project (2023)
#63As an embedded engineer in a new position I always volunteer to take up an old crusty legacy product that nobody else wants to touch. It's a quick education into how the company approaches projects and all the ghosts they had to fight along the way. All the business logic is there, and sometimes it's even documented. And once you have a semblance of knowledge about how the thing works and how to make fixes, you've bu…
The moat is real. A shiny new project can always be cancelled, but withdrawing support for a suitably large legacy application that doesn't have a replacement is harder.
Re: You're not a senior engineer until you've worked on a legacy project (2023)
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Haven’t you also often made a moat between yourself and doing literally anything else more interesting at the company?
Engineering isn't about working on the most interesting problems. It's about getting stuff done and management happy. Here, parent explained in detail how to get stuff done, management very happy and secure their position for years to come.
A good way to secure your position is to be the go-to expert for a product with many years of life ahead of it.
Fixing stuff on a legacy product may make management happy but if that product is discontinued next year then you haven't accrued technical expertise valuable to the company (but you may have built a reputation as a fixer and quick learner).
So, as usual, it is a balancing act.
Edit: this is my perspective from the embedded world. It probably applies generally, though.
Re: You're not a senior engineer until you've worked on a legacy project (2023)
#65I once had a manager that was fond of saying: > Experience is what you get when you don’t have any. The only better experience than working on a legacy codebase is working on a greenfield project long enough to watch it become legacy and see the good and bad consequences of past decisions.
oh the hills that were conquered and those to have died upon, captain hindsight strikes again!
Re: You're not a senior engineer until you've worked on a legacy project (2023)
#66As an embedded engineer in a new position I always volunteer to take up an old crusty legacy product that nobody else wants to touch. It's a quick education into how the company approaches projects and all the ghosts they had to fight along the way. All the business logic is there, and sometimes it's even documented. And once you have a semblance of knowledge about how the thing works and how to make fixes, you've bu…
Additionally, reading through other people's code is educational and it also builds self-esteem.
Re: You're not a senior engineer until you've worked on a legacy project (2023)
#67As an embedded engineer in a new position I always volunteer to take up an old crusty legacy product that nobody else wants to touch. It's a quick education into how the company approaches projects and all the ghosts they had to fight along the way. All the business logic is there, and sometimes it's even documented. And once you have a semblance of knowledge about how the thing works and how to make fixes, you've bu…
Haven’t you also often made a moat between yourself and doing literally anything else more interesting at the company?
Nope. If you're willing to take on the shitwork without a lot of handholding and show real progress (which actually impact earnings) you'll have a really good stab at new opportunities.
Re: You're not a senior engineer until you've worked on a legacy project (2023)
#68I unironically like working on legacy projects. It's good to know it stood the test of time and my efforts spent on it won't be wasted, because it is unlikely to be dropped. Of course this assumes there is a way to introduce improvements at all. Just keeping the lights on isn't as satisfying.
I enjoy it too, I explained why in an SE answer some years ago and I still feel this way - https://workplace.stackexchange.com/a/139878/5229
Re: You're not a senior engineer until you've worked on a legacy project (2023)
#69As an embedded engineer in a new position I always volunteer to take up an old crusty legacy product that nobody else wants to touch. It's a quick education into how the company approaches projects and all the ghosts they had to fight along the way. All the business logic is there, and sometimes it's even documented. And once you have a semblance of knowledge about how the thing works and how to make fixes, you've bu…
Smart move. The new guy always gets what no one else wants so you're going to get it anyway.
Re: You're not a senior engineer until you've worked on a legacy project (2023)
#70I once had a manager that was fond of saying: > Experience is what you get when you don’t have any. The only better experience than working on a legacy codebase is working on a greenfield project long enough to watch it become legacy and see the good and bad consequences of past decisions.
Came here to say this. Ive had to work on slop, and it never stops being slop unless the stars align and you can do a bunch of work which is short term unprofitable. What people really should do is work on the same project for five years. Watch the interest wax and wane and more importantly watch the requirements change. Then you'll stop looking at things in black and white like "good project bad project"