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Professional Programming: The First 10 Years

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Re: Professional Programming: The First 10 Years

#21

Post by ilrwbwrkhv »

civilized wrote: post #15

A lot of really good stuff here, for example reaffirming YAGNI and a focus on customer value. One part I think falls short: > Negativity begets negativity I think this is coming from a very common and fundamentally misguided premise - the obsessive focus on emotional valence, on whether we're being positive or negative. The real problem is not whether we are being positive or negative, it's the rush to attach emotion…

This is very well said. I am trying to practice this myself as I find myself to be very mercurial. I have been going through the book living untethered by michael a. singer to guide the way.

Re: Professional Programming: The First 10 Years

#22

Post by civilized »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #20
civilized wrote: post #15

A lot of really good stuff here, for example reaffirming YAGNI and a focus on customer value. One part I think falls short: > Negativity begets negativity I think this is coming from a very common and fundamentally misguided premise - the obsessive focus on emotional valence, on whether we're being positive or negative. The real problem is not whether we are being positive or negative, it's the rush to attach emotion…

People are emotional, at least to some degree. Most people find emotions contagious. If you're surrounded by people being negative, it's draining , even if you don't give in to the negativity. One think I would say the article is wrong on, though - snark doesn't have to lead to cynicism. At my place, we talk a fair amount of smack, but it's just entertainment. (One difference - the smack is self-directed at least as…

On the other hand, if you model productive negative thinking and communication, people will be relieved that they have the space to express their problems, and you will accelerate genuine team bonding and psychological safety.

I have success stories from my personal experience doing this.

Re: Professional Programming: The First 10 Years

#23

Post by kqr »

albertzeyer wrote: post #13
ctvo wrote: post #9

> Fearlessness is undervalued Being technically fearless is also a trait I've identified in engineers I enjoy working with. It's hard to quantify how you gain this. I think it's a combination of strong fundamentals and deep curiosity. It forms when things stop being magic.

I observed that many people are really afraid even of basic things. "I don't want to click here because I don't know what it does. Maybe it breaks my computer or deletes all my stuff." Maybe it's because I started using computers as a child (~9 years old or so) but I always had the mindset to just try things out. You cannot really break the computer or delete stuff. Every tool will always put a very clear warning bef…

It goes deeper than this. It's not just about trying things; some people do the opposite: they try too many things at once.

The real skill lies in trying things systematically, carefully, querying your mental model of the system and invalidating hypotheses along the way.

Re: Professional Programming: The First 10 Years

#24

Post by chrsig »

civilized wrote: post #22
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are emotional, at least to some degree. Most people find emotions contagious. If you're surrounded by people being negative, it's draining , even if you don't give in to the negativity. One think I would say the article is wrong on, though - snark doesn't have to lead to cynicism. At my place, we talk a fair amount of smack, but it's just entertainment. (One difference - the smack is self-directed at least as…

On the other hand, if you model productive negative thinking and communication, people will be relieved that they have the space to express their problems, and you will accelerate genuine team bonding and psychological safety. I have success stories from my personal experience doing this.

I think some big things to consider is what the negativity is trying to accomplish, how is it presented, and is any solution presented?

Is there vindictiveness in the negativity? resentment? superiority? smugness? irritation? is it directed at a person, a process, a project?

Is the negativity being brought up just for the sake of complaining? to solicit empathy or solidarity?

Is the negativity specific? actionable?

Those may be valid feelings, and great things to examine...and then probably keep to yourself, and find productive ways to either soothe/cope or change the environment/root causes.

I say this as someone that endeavors to do what you've described in your initial post, but also as someone that struggles with adhd/depression, keeping it to myself can be it's own struggle. And then I worry that I've rained on my coworkers parade, or that I've worsened their work environment.

People have something of a battery when it comes to this sort of thing, and it can definitely be drained, so it's important to be conscientious of that.

Mindfulness exercises and meditation help me a great deal with all of the above, by doing what you suggest, and being inquisitive about the feelings. And also being aware of how the body is behaving during those feelings.

Re: Professional Programming: The First 10 Years

#25

Post by misternugget »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #20
civilized wrote: post #15

A lot of really good stuff here, for example reaffirming YAGNI and a focus on customer value. One part I think falls short: > Negativity begets negativity I think this is coming from a very common and fundamentally misguided premise - the obsessive focus on emotional valence, on whether we're being positive or negative. The real problem is not whether we are being positive or negative, it's the rush to attach emotion…

People are emotional, at least to some degree. Most people find emotions contagious. If you're surrounded by people being negative, it's draining , even if you don't give in to the negativity. One think I would say the article is wrong on, though - snark doesn't have to lead to cynicism. At my place, we talk a fair amount of smack, but it's just entertainment. (One difference - the smack is self-directed at least as…

Author here. Just wanted to add that I don’t think all forms of snark, sarcasm, and cynicism are bad. Or even negativity! But what I learned the hard way is that there’s a time and a place for this and often it’s not “your team & whenever something pops in your head”. I very much agree with the GP here in that I value mindfulness when it comes to negativity.

Re: Professional Programming: The First 10 Years

#26

Post by lysecret »

Really enjoy the fearlessness. I wanted to share my main guide for programming, my dad always told it to me it comes from KentBeck: First, you make it run. Then you make it right.

It is a bit connected to fearlessness, because you need to be a little fearless to start something without knowing where it will go. I think fearlessness originates from a trust in oneself, and maybe the universe too haha

Re: Professional Programming: The First 10 Years

#27

Post by civilized »

chrsig wrote: post #24
civilized wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, if you model productive negative thinking and communication, people will be relieved that they have the space to express their problems, and you will accelerate genuine team bonding and psychological safety. I have success stories from my personal experience doing this.

I think some big things to consider is what the negativity is trying to accomplish, how is it presented, and is any solution presented? Is there vindictiveness in the negativity? resentment? superiority? smugness? irritation? is it directed at a person, a process, a project? Is the negativity being brought up just for the sake of complaining? to solicit empathy or solidarity? Is the negativity specific? actionable? T…

Yeah, doing negativity right isn't easy! It's essential to look inward for how the expression might impact people.

Re: Professional Programming: The First 10 Years

#28

Post by nh23423fefe »

troelsSteegin wrote: post #6

"Code has mass". Following from that, attention is force and understanding is acceleration.

No I dont think that follows. Forces don't cause accelerations. But attention is required for understanding.

> Every additional line of code you don’t need is ballast. It weighs your codebase down, making it harder to steer and change direction if you need to

So code as mass is the scalar part of the momentum. So the directional part is where this code is going in "purpose space".

Re: Professional Programming: The First 10 Years

#29

Post by civilized »

misternugget wrote: post #25
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are emotional, at least to some degree. Most people find emotions contagious. If you're surrounded by people being negative, it's draining , even if you don't give in to the negativity. One think I would say the article is wrong on, though - snark doesn't have to lead to cynicism. At my place, we talk a fair amount of smack, but it's just entertainment. (One difference - the smack is self-directed at least as…

Author here. Just wanted to add that I don’t think all forms of snark, sarcasm, and cynicism are bad. Or even negativity! But what I learned the hard way is that there’s a time and a place for this and often it’s not “your team & whenever something pops in your head”. I very much agree with the GP here in that I value mindfulness when it comes to negativity.

I just wanted to say I loved your post and I think this is a very hard thing to articulate in our culture. Because you're absolutely right about the social impacts of many forms of negativity. But "negativity" seems too broad of a term for the thing we need to avoid. But then, what is the more precise alternative? I guess "mindless negativity" is something closer, at least.

Re: Professional Programming: The First 10 Years

#30

Post by gombosg »

Awesome article!

> Typing can be the bottleneck Agree! Learning touch typing (at 30 :)) was a big relief for my fingers and wrists. Also it's important to have a good mechanical or scissor keyboard so that typing actually feels good.

> Hiring is hard And it's like dating: you only get to know the people who you actually hire and never learn what would have happened to the people that you have rejected. That is some selection bias in the system.

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