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Signs You’re in a Dead-End Job

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Re: Signs You’re in a Dead-End Job

#21

Post by ihnorton »

mironathetin wrote: post #11
dschiptsov wrote: post #7

Oh, that's simple - you are 9-to-5 coder in a language which name begins with J or ends with #.

In what kind of mind distortion field are you living? I used to write code in Java and Jython for a big science project. Now I switched (avoid the word advanced) to a new big science project, where we use c, c++ and python. This is a nightmare compared to everything we did before. I always liked to work in Java, but I never realized how powerful it is compared to the other stuff. We as a team are close to switching l…

What field are you in, and what are your biggest pain points with that stack? (I have a long list of issues in "small" science, curious how they compare)

Re: Signs You’re in a Dead-End Job

#22

Post by mironathetin »

ihnorton wrote: post #21
mironathetin wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what kind of mind distortion field are you living? I used to write code in Java and Jython for a big science project. Now I switched (avoid the word advanced) to a new big science project, where we use c, c++ and python. This is a nightmare compared to everything we did before. I always liked to work in Java, but I never realized how powerful it is compared to the other stuff. We as a team are close to switching l…

What field are you in, and what are your biggest pain points with that stack? (I have a long list of issues in "small" science, curious how they compare)

I am in astrophysics (lots of telescope and satellite data). Our main point is that Java provides a complete environment: no shared libraries, no compilation problems when moving to other machines.

The next is productivity. In java, I could focus on the problem. In c/c++ it takes only minutes, until I have to think about why my code doesn't compile. That can easily take me away for hours, sometimes longer.

The most significant downside of java is for me memory consumption. It needs a lot of care and experience to get that right.

Python on the other hand is nice. Although it does not integrate with c++ as nicely as jython integrates with java.

Re: Signs You’re in a Dead-End Job

#23

Post by bowlofpetunias »

rjprins wrote: post #2

For software developers, I feel this career thing works a bit differently. Going up the ladder means managing people or projects, but that is not necessarily more fun than writing code. I don't know where I see myself in 5 years, but it might actually be still just coding, no actual change in title or function. It's fun and challenging and I imagine it can be like that for a long time. Instead, a dead end job for me…

I moved into management not for career purposes (I could make more money being a programmer elsewhere than being a manager at my current employer), but because after 20+ years or programming I felt I was just repeating myself.

There was no more challenge in it. I could still learn new tech, but I wasn't learning anything new about myself an my abilities.

Even when it came to doing "new" stuff (which as you discover in time is often just repackaged old stuff), I already was 99.9% sure I would master it, and it was just a matter of time and hard work. That not only took away the challenge, but also made me less motivated than my younger coworkers for whom everything was shiny and new, and who didn't have the experience to always avoid obvious (to me at least) modes of failure.

Managing was a challenge I could actually fail at (and still do on a regular basis...).

Yeah, programming is still more "fun" to do than managing, but it now is the kind of fun I do as a hobby (as in, hacking in stuff that will never get finished), not a job. A dead end job for me is a job that offers no more real challenges, and a challenge for me includes the risk of failure.

(Of course one other key motivator was 20+ of experiencing how bad management can completely suck all fun and productivity out of programming.)

Re: Signs You’re in a Dead-End Job

#24

Post by [deleted] »

ihnorton wrote: post #21
mironathetin wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what kind of mind distortion field are you living? I used to write code in Java and Jython for a big science project. Now I switched (avoid the word advanced) to a new big science project, where we use c, c++ and python. This is a nightmare compared to everything we did before. I always liked to work in Java, but I never realized how powerful it is compared to the other stuff. We as a team are close to switching l…

What field are you in, and what are your biggest pain points with that stack? (I have a long list of issues in "small" science, curious how they compare)

[deleted]

Re: Signs You’re in a Dead-End Job

#25

Post by mironathetin »

vonmoltke wrote: post #17
mironathetin wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what kind of mind distortion field are you living? I used to write code in Java and Jython for a big science project. Now I switched (avoid the word advanced) to a new big science project, where we use c, c++ and python. This is a nightmare compared to everything we did before. I always liked to work in Java, but I never realized how powerful it is compared to the other stuff. We as a team are close to switching l…

A significant portion of the ML/NLP world runs on Java. Its the worst language for the job, except for all the others.

well said.

Re: Signs You’re in a Dead-End Job

#27

Post by yummyfajitas »

vonmoltke wrote: post #17
mironathetin wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what kind of mind distortion field are you living? I used to write code in Java and Jython for a big science project. Now I switched (avoid the word advanced) to a new big science project, where we use c, c++ and python. This is a nightmare compared to everything we did before. I always liked to work in Java, but I never realized how powerful it is compared to the other stuff. We as a team are close to switching l…

A significant portion of the ML/NLP world runs on Java. Its the worst language for the job, except for all the others.

http://www.scala-lang.org/

Re: Signs You’re in a Dead-End Job

#28

Post by [deleted] »

mironathetin wrote: post #22
ihnorton wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What field are you in, and what are your biggest pain points with that stack? (I have a long list of issues in "small" science, curious how they compare)

I am in astrophysics (lots of telescope and satellite data). Our main point is that Java provides a complete environment: no shared libraries, no compilation problems when moving to other machines. The next is productivity. In java, I could focus on the problem. In c/c++ it takes only minutes, until I have to think about why my code doesn't compile. That can easily take me away for hours, sometimes longer. The most s…

[deleted]

Re: Signs You’re in a Dead-End Job

#29

Post by ihnorton »

mironathetin wrote: post #22
ihnorton wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What field are you in, and what are your biggest pain points with that stack? (I have a long list of issues in "small" science, curious how they compare)

I am in astrophysics (lots of telescope and satellite data). Our main point is that Java provides a complete environment: no shared libraries, no compilation problems when moving to other machines. The next is productivity. In java, I could focus on the problem. In c/c++ it takes only minutes, until I have to think about why my code doesn't compile. That can easily take me away for hours, sometimes longer. The most s…

Thanks for the perspective. Sounds pretty familiar. Aside from missing math syntax, Python by itself/packaged can be great -- until it's slow, which leads to the real problem for me, that compiling mixed Python/C[++] and dependent libraries is just absolutely horrendous on Windows. Unfortunately, Windows is where my users are.

Re: Signs You’re in a Dead-End Job

#30

Post by swinnipeg »

5 years experience is very different than 1 year of experience repeated 5 times.

Many positions aren't designed for growth, and you really need to ask your self if you have been growing professionally when in that position. You risk losing whatever edge you once had.

IMO having side projects (with some sort of attached business goal) / and some contracting is a great option if you aren't ready to leave a job that is going nowhere.

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