Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The shittiest project I ever worked on

blog.plover.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 187 posts

Re: The shittiest project I ever worked on

#81

Post by chii »

tobiasbischoff wrote: post #57

One of the best examples of consultant failure i've ever seen. Clearly an example for - not enough questions asked - not listened to the customer Do not ever start building something or proposing a solution if you don't understand the customers problem deeply enough.

i dont think the problem lies with the consultant tho - how could he have figured out the actual business problem, if no body bothered to tell him? He was hired to do a particular task, and that task was pre-determined by some "stakeholders" who dont actually know what they want.

Re: The shittiest project I ever worked on

#82

Post by chetanahuja »

akg_67 wrote: post #66
nostrademons wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's kinda ironic, but my girlfriend's business school classmates (most of whom are electrical, mechanical, or chemical engineers) seem to think that software engineers are at the top of the engineering totem pole. Something about being the only engineering subdiscipline that's paid what they're worth. If it's a scam, it seems to be working.

As a former chemical engineer, I agree with your gf's classmates. In late 90s, I was working on an advanced chemical manufacturing process control project with a team of software developers. I found out they were getting paid twice as much as me and they were half as productive as me (they knew nothing about manufacturing, chemicals and process control) and I was twice as stressed as them. The best decision I made wa…

"technology industry"?

Re: The shittiest project I ever worked on

#83

Post by brianmcconnell »

misterjangles wrote: post #41
redact207 wrote: post #12

Although it's a fun read, it's a classic example of diving into coding without giving a project it's due diligence. There's nothing that's derailed my projects more consistently when I started out as not understanding the user's needs. They'll never tell you what they want, only what they don't want after you deliver something. I think that's the key difference to an experienced dev/BA. One who can actually sit with…

The tricky part is often convincing a client that pre-planning is a necessary part if the process and, though it is billable time, will ultimately save money. Many client don't appreciate that programming is not just writing code. Also you can wind up meeting and planning yourself right out of a gig sometimes - which is fine if the gig wasn't truly necessary. But can be bad for your business if you spend hundreds of…

The trick then is to get clients who know they just want to "have it taken care of", and have much higher billing suppliers (IP lawyers, pharma experts, etc). In that case, they don't really think twice about paying for process in advance of coding. Pharma is a good example.

Being a contract resource for a software company, where management tends to think everything related to software/IT is "easy", is a guaranteed shitty project. They'll second guess and micromanage everything you do. And then when they burn through their OPM, they'll screw you.

Re: The shittiest project I ever worked on

#84

Post by chetanahuja »

the_cat_kittles wrote: post #16

The title reminds me of the shittiest software job/project I ever worked on- short and sweet: Got hired off craigslist. It was all php. Their main competitor was "the spreadsheet". Worked directly next to a cold caller that repeated the same phrase over and over again, fake laugh and all. They were all from the same church group and tried to convert me multiple times. Paid minimum wage. In addition to being funny in…

oooh... looks like someone has a case of the mondays.

Re: The shittiest project I ever worked on

#85

Post by lifeisstillgood »

perfunctory wrote: post #67
redact207 wrote: post #12

Although it's a fun read, it's a classic example of diving into coding without giving a project it's due diligence. There's nothing that's derailed my projects more consistently when I started out as not understanding the user's needs. They'll never tell you what they want, only what they don't want after you deliver something. I think that's the key difference to an experienced dev/BA. One who can actually sit with…

> Although it's a fun read, it's a classic example of diving into coding without giving a project it's due diligence. If everybody was so picky the size of the IT industry would diminish by 90%.

and the success rate? and value delivered?

Re: The shittiest project I ever worked on

#86

Post by raverbashing »

ctdonath wrote: post #14
mjd wrote: post #2

tl;dr

tl;dr - A very long, difficult, and complex calculation multiplied by zero is zero. Or in this case, a very long, difficult, and complex database manipulation culminated in an invariant "Call 1-800-555-5555". Somehow reminds me of a co-worker wandering into my cube with a dazed look, mumbling "I just ran an 8-hour database job with the wrong data...I just wasted $64,000...".

Yes, I had this impression once.

It's like a very long function that returns nothing and has no side effects.

Re: The shittiest project I ever worked on

#87

Post by rwallace »

chii wrote: post #76
greenyoda wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"One who can actually sit with the stakeholders and build the system on paper and go through each of the problems as the diagrams connect." Reminds me of an old saying: "If you don't know how to do it, you don't know how to do it on a computer."

heh true, but what about if you were going to use a neural network to do some sort of pattern recognition? You dont know how its done, but the computer does! :D

Then well and good, but alas situations where that will work and deliver business value are rare enough you can easily spend a lifetime as a professional programmer without encountering one.

Re: The shittiest project I ever worked on

#88

Post by chris_wot »

SomeCallMeTim wrote: post #36
fusiongyro wrote: post #22

> In 1995 I quit my regular job as senior web engineer You had the job title "senior web engineer" when the web was 4 years old. That's pretty cool.

I had a "Senior Software Engineer" title after only about 2-3 years of real-world programming experience, at age 23 or so. I had shipped a couple games as lead by then, so it wasn't entirely unearned.

I was senior consultant, but for a two man organisation. The other man was the owner. Later on he told me I wasn't up to standards to be "senior" consultant.

He then became the sole member of the business :-)

Re: The shittiest project I ever worked on

#89

Post by chris_wot »

kjackson2012 wrote: post #54
fusiongyro wrote: post #22

> In 1995 I quit my regular job as senior web engineer You had the job title "senior web engineer" when the web was 4 years old. That's pretty cool.

I find it hard to believe. In 1995 people barely knew what the internet was. I was accessing the internet through Trumpet Winsock on Windows 3.11 and had a 14.4k modem. The idea that Time Warner already had a sophisticated Web division smells like BS to me. I would accept 1997 or 1998, but not 1995.

You call that sophisticated?

Re: The shittiest project I ever worked on

#90

Post by mk270 »

pjc50 wrote: post #70
kjackson2012 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it hard to believe. In 1995 people barely knew what the internet was. I was accessing the internet through Trumpet Winsock on Windows 3.11 and had a 14.4k modem. The idea that Time Warner already had a sophisticated Web division smells like BS to me. I would accept 1997 or 1998, but not 1995.

It's a rank indicator, not about experience. Also, fancy job titles are free employee motivation.

The Emperor has spoken.
Post reply on HN