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Things I Learnt from a Senior Software Engineer

neilkakkar.com

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Re: Things I Learnt from a Senior Software Engineer

#201

Post by dillonmckay »

mikekchar wrote: post #114
ken wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've read that in feng shui what you describe is called the "command position". I'm not able to work with my back to a crowd. That's a recipe for anxiety. I quit a company when they moved my desk so my back was to a hallway, and refused to compromise on this issue in any way.

If it happens again, I've been told that having a mirror on your desk so that you can see what's going on behind you can help a lot.

I had a coworker try this, and it made her more jumpy, as she would catch somebody in her rear vision across the room.

She would audibly be surprised and distract others.

Re: Things I Learnt from a Senior Software Engineer

#202

Post by isoprophlex »

mikekchar wrote: post #122
Everlag wrote: post #4

The referenced idea of a 'human log' is great[0]. I started doing something similar 4 years ago and it eventually evolved from per-project notes into a full diary. Being able to search for 'August 24 2016' and know exactly what I did that day is quite powerful. I encourage anyone to take 10 minutes(or 30...) at the end of the day to write up what they've done. Just a text file with minimal formatting has scaled to 2.…

I have an admittedly crazy thing I do occasionally. I do 5 minute pomodoros. So it's 5 minutes of writing code followed by 1 minute of reflection. In that one minute, I'll write down what I did in the last 5 minutes (it takes about 10 seconds to write since it isn't much ;-). I'll also add a few TODOs that I'm hoping to do, or break down ones I've already got. Now, 5 minutes seems an impossibly small amount of time,…

This sounds revolutionary, I'm going to try this! Thanks for sharing.

Re: Things I Learnt from a Senior Software Engineer

#203

Post by dillonmckay »

nitrogen wrote: post #140
rbavocadotree wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also strange in that I don't think I'd get very much out of simply watching anyone work, unless they were also giving live commentary or something.

There was an article posted on HN a while back that claimed that the best way for beginners to learn a new skill is to watch an expert just work, without any commentary or explanation. I tried finding a link, but couldn't come up with working search terms on DDG, Goog, or HN.

This was an interesting article about the trend towards robotic surgery and the new methods to gain experience in such an environment.

https://hbr.org/ideacast/2019/08/how-robots-and-ai-are-chang...

Re: Things I Learnt from a Senior Software Engineer

#204

Post by dillonmckay »

phnofive wrote: post #64
Spooky23 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Naming standards are the ultimate bikeshedding event. Everyone has an opinion and camps develop for various schemes. The last time this happened, I happened to be in a position of influence for the final decision for naming standards. We took an approach designed to piss off everyone... license plates. We used sequential numbers prepended by a pronounceable string, and random words, selected by a system, for internal…

I have been on both the receiving and producing end of a similar decision making process whereby all stakeholders are consulted, and then a solution is provided which has as its only real design consideration - beyond being effective - that no-one gets exactly what they requested. Is there a name for this kind of anti-consensus decision making?

Compromise?

Re: Things I Learnt from a Senior Software Engineer

#205

Post by asgeir »

neilkakkar wrote: post #51
LeonB wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi Neil. The attribution is correctly given here: https://martinfowler.com/bliki/TwoHardThings.html (Hint... it's me.)

Hey Leon, thanks! I've updated the website :)

Cunningham's law in action.

"The best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question, it's to post the wrong answer."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham#Cunningham%27s...

Re: Things I Learnt from a Senior Software Engineer

#206

Post by m90 »

dotancohen wrote: post #186
teddyh wrote: post #21

> Naming your clusters? Naming them after the service that runs on them is great, till the point you start running something else on them too. We ended up naming them with our team name. This is covered by RFC 1178¹, Choosing a Name for Your Computer (from 1990): Don't choose a name after a project unique to that machine. A manufacturing project had named a machine "shop" since it was going to be used to control a nu…

> Nobody expects to learn much about a person by their name. This is wrong. If I tell you that I just hired a mathematician, a farmhand, and a nurse, you could probably guess which person was which when I introduce you to Vladimir, Jebbediah, and Sofia. Names are a reflection of culture, and certain cultures tend towards certain professions. No politically-correct dreams will change that unless we instill a universal…

I think your example rather exemplifies what kind of cliches "Disney and Coca Cola" have established. This kind of role models is the universal monoculture, not a nurse called Vladimir.

Re: Things I Learnt from a Senior Software Engineer

#207

Post by dillonmckay »

zrail wrote: post #34
stefs wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in my home network i name my computers after animals, whereby the power/size of the computer roughly resembles the size of the animal. my beefy desktop may be the whale, the nas is the rhino, the notebooks are roughly dogs, the raspberry pis are small animals like mice, the chromecast is e coli. plus good: i'm never going to run out of animal names.

I use Simpson’s bit characters. Never gonna run out of those.

My first job, I named each web server off of a different Simpson’s character, all attached to a big KVM, so I customized each desktop to the character, so I could easily tell what server I was in.

Re: Things I Learnt from a Senior Software Engineer

#208

Post by pbourke »

arpa wrote: post #151
pbourke wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is this being downvoted? It is highly inappropriate to do this in a work context.

Some people work in porn hub, and some in the mormon church. Of course the culture will differ. I, personally, would rather work for the pornhub than the mormons purely due to ethical reasons.

The example that cited upthread (a smaller ISP) had nothing to do with either of those examples, which are both extremes in terms of corporate culture.

Naming your servers after porn stars is the digital equivalent of having pin ups in your auto shop. Can you not see how this creates a hostile work environment for some employees? It’s inappropriate, unprofessional and unnecessary.

I shouldn’t even need to footnote this by saying that I don’t care whether someone enjoys porn in their personal life. If the business is not about porn, porn shouldn’t be a topic in the business.

Re: Things I Learnt from a Senior Software Engineer

#209

Post by TeMPOraL »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #152
marcosdumay wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't. I could never really pair programming, even in school. Interestingly, I can share my screen with people that have different tasks than mine. I just can't make it work when both people have the same state of mind.

pair programming is really a forced socializing in a field where a lot of people have trouble socializing, never really understood how it got as far as it did.

Pair programming is an anti-procrastination trick that works by setting two people in a situation where both are afraid to lose face by trying to goof off. This works, but builds up anxiety.

Re: Things I Learnt from a Senior Software Engineer

#210

Post by TeMPOraL »

dillonmckay wrote: post #204
phnofive wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been on both the receiving and producing end of a similar decision making process whereby all stakeholders are consulted, and then a solution is provided which has as its only real design consideration - beyond being effective - that no-one gets exactly what they requested. Is there a name for this kind of anti-consensus decision making?

Compromise?

No; the point here is to pick the worst possible compromise out of compromises that solve the problem effectively.

It's like you're dividing an 8-piece pizza between 3 people. Everyone's minimum desire is 2 pieces, compromise solution would be 2 and 2/3 split, and people keep arguing why they deserve more. However you - the decision maker - decide instead to give everyone 2 pieces and throw the remaining 3 pieces into the bin, because shut up and get back to work.

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