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Confessions of a Software Developer: No More Self-Censorship

kerrick.blog

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Re: Confessions of a Software Developer: No More Self-Censorship

#111

Post by 29athrowaway »

> software development is better when you breathe the same air as the folks you work with

Ever heard of flu season? What if you have a family and don't want to bring diseases home?

> Attempts to represent ideas spatially get mutilated by online whiteboard and sticky note software.

Right... like, the Linux kernel team? Or any of the major open source key pieces of technology you use? Built by large teams that worked remotely for decades even when tools where orders of magnitude worse than the current state of the art? Some of them never meeting each other in person?

---

Remote work DOESN'T suck. YOU make it suck.

Remote work is great if you care about shipping.

Want to go for coffee or want to talk about our weekends? No thanks.

Did you see the distracting thing outside the building? No, I didn't because I don't have to go there anymore.

Is the heat too high or too low? It's your own home, just adjust it to YOUR convenience.

Worried about your pets being alone? Just be next to them. I care more about my pets than some stranger from work.

Want to be loud and flex about random stuff? Log into LinkedIn and talk to the other geniuses like you while I focus on doing my job.

Most people SUCK at drawing, suck at calligraphy and their whiteboard diagrams SUCK. Therefore, whiteboards SUCK. Unless you have great calligraphy and drawing skills, whiteboards are not helpful. You are just sad because you are not getting attention by being in front of other people looking at you.

Re: Confessions of a Software Developer: No More Self-Censorship

#112

Post by devmor »

_ea1k wrote: post #22

Every time that I read this about remote work, all I can think is how much I miss IRC and the culture that came from it. We were doing remote work effectively decades ago. Don't have hallway conversations to fix bugs? Easy, just post your problems on the team chat and someone (often one of several people) would love to drop by to help. I'm not sure exactly all of the forces that have led to this changing so much, but…

One of the author’s primary reasonings for why remote work sucks is apparently that they find it difficult to treat other people like human beings without close proximity to them.

That’s pretty weird and uncomfortable and I don’t know that I would want to work with someone like that in or out of office.

Re: Confessions of a Software Developer: No More Self-Censorship

#113

Post by devmor »

layer8 wrote: post #25
_ea1k wrote: post #22

Every time that I read this about remote work, all I can think is how much I miss IRC and the culture that came from it. We were doing remote work effectively decades ago. Don't have hallway conversations to fix bugs? Easy, just post your problems on the team chat and someone (often one of several people) would love to drop by to help. I'm not sure exactly all of the forces that have led to this changing so much, but…

Electronic chat is really not the same as face-to-face communication. Neither are video calls.

Yes, it’s not the same at all.

In electronic chat I can ask someone to explain their question and wait for it in writing. In person, I often have to listen to them stumble over the concept because they didn’t think about what they wanted to ask before asking it.

In a video call I can clearly see the other person’s screen and zoom in on what I’m trying to look at. In person I have to lean over their desk and squint at the right angle.

Re: Confessions of a Software Developer: No More Self-Censorship

#114

Post by yoyohello13 »

sincerely wrote: post #54
david38 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Youtube

About as helpful an answer as “book”

I do unironically think the simplest method to learn calculus is to go through a college level textbook. They are usually pretty accessible.

Re: Confessions of a Software Developer: No More Self-Censorship

#115

Post by [deleted] »

Kerrick wrote: post #80
cedws wrote: post #71

I think the author is too hard on themselves for not knowing things, probably coming from shame. I can only speak for myself but learning to shrug that off just how to say "I don't know X" or "I forgot X" is very freeing. I say I don't know shit all the time at work, and so do people I work with. We aren't encyclopedias. Just chuckle about it and figure it out and learn. I much prefer working with people who can just…

For some reason I'm able to say "I don't know" to coworkers and superiors at work with no problem, but I have a much harder time online where it may affect future employers' opinions of me.

[deleted]

Re: Confessions of a Software Developer: No More Self-Censorship

#116

Post by cortesoft »

NikxDa wrote: post #3

I appreciate the author being vulnerable like this in a public setting. It's easy to see why it would be scary, especially since admitting being wrong or not knowing something can easily be turned into questioning one's overall competence. I wish we'd be more open about our flaws and knowledge gaps in general. I think we'd all benefit.

I had an old colleague (at various points he was my boss, colleague, and subordinate at different places) that really opened my eyes up to the power of saying you don’t know how to do something.

I used to also fear appearing incompetent if I admitted to not knowing too many things, so I would avoid showing my knowledge gaps whenever possible.

However, this colleague was the exact opposite. He would gleefully tell people he had no idea how to do certain things, would be a ready listener when the person he was talking to explained how it worked, and would heap praise on the person for their knowledge and teaching skills. He would always defer to other people as experts when he didn’t know, and would make sure our bosses and coworkers knew who had helped him and how much they knew about the topic.

What I saw and experienced was that this did NOT, in any way shape or form, make people think less of him. It did the exact opposite. First, it made people REALLY happy to help him with stuff; he made you feel so smart and capable when you explained things and helped him, everyone jumped at the opportunity to show him things. He learned so much because he made everyone excited to teach him, and made his coworkers feel smart and appreciated for their knowledge.

And then, when he did speak with confidence on a subject, everyone knew he wasn’t bullshitting, because we knew he never faked it. Since he gave everyone else the chances to be the expert and deferred all the time, you didn’t get the one-upmanship you often get when tech people are trying to prove their bonafides. People were happy to listen to him because he first listened to them.

I have really tried to emulate him in my career. I go out of my way to praise and thank people who help me, always try to immediately admit where my skills and experience lack, and don’t try to prove myself in subjects I don’t really know that well. It has worked well for me in my career, as well.

Re: Confessions of a Software Developer: No More Self-Censorship

#117

Post by globalnode »

_ea1k wrote: post #22

Every time that I read this about remote work, all I can think is how much I miss IRC and the culture that came from it. We were doing remote work effectively decades ago. Don't have hallway conversations to fix bugs? Easy, just post your problems on the team chat and someone (often one of several people) would love to drop by to help. I'm not sure exactly all of the forces that have led to this changing so much, but…

Yeah text based beats video a lot of the time.

Re: Confessions of a Software Developer: No More Self-Censorship

#119

Post by stackskipton »

LtWorf wrote: post #73
seneca wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Somehow we were better at using remote tools while literally in the same office than some teams are at using them now while fully remote. This is sort of the point. Remote tools work great when you have spent a lot of time building relationships and rapport with the people involved. That's hard to do in professional settings, and extremely hard to do in remote professional settings. Letting teams that know each oth…

Debian works like that but the startups can't manage… interesting.

Open-Source Project that doesn't have Project Managers and MBA telling you to work faster is a lot different then working at Startup that does.

Re: Confessions of a Software Developer: No More Self-Censorship

#120

Post by nirui »

> You lose ambient awareness of coworkers’ problems, and asking for help is a bigger burden.

When I was in school, I discovered that I studied more effectively and efficiently when I'm surrounded by other students who's also studying.

Then at work, I found I worked much more productively if my coworkers are all doing their work.

It's not just simply peer pressure, it's an atmosphere effect, it tell you "hey, this place is for doing this thing, now you do it too", it makes you concentrate. Sometimes being concentrated is a good thing.

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