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Things I’ve learned in my 20 years as a software engineer

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Re: Things I’ve learned in my 20 years as a software engineer

#31

Post by koonsolo »

Annatar wrote: post #21
boffinAudio wrote: post #7

40+ years of experience here, and I'll tell you the #1 thing I've learned: * Software is a social service. Its for other humans. Incredibly, it doesn't matter how educated the developer, they still seem to have to learn this lesson themselves, over and over, until it sinks in...

I reached quite the opposite conclusion: the purpose of software is to make a computer do work. Then again, I purposely refrain from writing end-user software and focus on backend automation. It is a deliberate choice.

Do you keep your code human readable? Why?

Re: Things I’ve learned in my 20 years as a software engineer

#32

Post by lucumo »

boffinAudio wrote: post #25
mattcwilson wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And, as the article says, your advice and the GP’s are contextual. If you’re interested in creating software that makes people happy, solves their problems, gets cherished and recommended - then work hard to not lose sight of that goal in the thick of crafting a massive code edifice. If you’re interested in pushing the limits of your own creativity, and building a technical structure capable of handling domain comple…

Even if YOU are the only user, you're still writing software for a human. Hopefully.

Well, you could create software as art. Basically to create it for the fun of creating it, not to use it.

But yeah, the end result is useless then, and can be thrown out.

Re: Things I’ve learned in my 20 years as a software engineer

#33

Post by pydry »

sunnyday1337 wrote: post #18

I have seen many similar posts what people have learned but not once have I seen: "Don't assume anything". So many times when shit hit the bricks because someone assumed something about some other thing they clearly don't know everything about. Which eventually lead to the system failing.

It would be impossible to do any work at all without making assumptions.

This attitude belies the fact that of the 1000s of assumptions you make every day 1 or 2 will end up being incorrect, but it's usually very, very hard or even impossible to know which in advance.

Re: Things I’ve learned in my 20 years as a software engineer

#34

Post by Aeolun »

mettamage wrote: post #16
pjc50 wrote: post #6

This is a very insightful list. But there is one thing I'd quibble with: while it's inherently a super-subjective metric, I would say that 10x programmers do exist. Both in the "can support a company by themselves" sense and the "mad lone genius" sense. Not all the 10x programmers are good at working with other people or on other people's ideas. 0.1x programmers are often lost or afraid, although they may just be uni…

I've also met one 10x programmer in my life. A lot comes down to being able to reason fast, architect well, and write code on the fly without resorting much to: * Documentation * The debugger / print() Becoming a 10x developer means that you have a set of skills that work well together in an end to end process from going to initial requirements to fully fledged architecture and/or code.

Being a 10x developer is a factor of experience. You don’t need to debug the issue if you can already reason through to where it must be.

Re: Things I’ve learned in my 20 years as a software engineer

#35

Post by jasode »

pjc50 wrote: post #6

This is a very insightful list. But there is one thing I'd quibble with: while it's inherently a super-subjective metric, I would say that 10x programmers do exist. Both in the "can support a company by themselves" sense and the "mad lone genius" sense. Not all the 10x programmers are good at working with other people or on other people's ideas. 0.1x programmers are often lost or afraid, although they may just be uni…

>, I would say that 10x programmers do exist.

Yes but I think the underlying issue is that some people really Really don't like to acknowledge (or are unaware) there's a small set of elite programmers that can do things average coders can't. But any label we use to describe them (i.e. "10x", "rockstar", "ninja", etc) will be psychologically distasteful. I previously commented about that effect:

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13753178

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24753594

To see that hidden psychology driving the narrative... look at how the author constructed his comparison with extra qualifiers of "competent" & "similarly experienced" : ">The idea that someone can produce in 1 day what another competent, hard working, similarly experienced programmer can produce in 2 weeks is silly."

In other words, if we artificially construct the comparison by a priori assuming both programmers are equal, then the 10x difference is a myth. Well yes, that's tautology. If you invent a sentence to "prove" a point, you can set any conditions in the artificial universe in your favor that seems to support it.

However in the real world, the stack of resumes will have a candidates with wildly different skill levels. Some struggle with Fizz Buzz. Some can write a 3d game from scratch. But it's impossible to create a label to describe that wide gap which also doesn't invite bikeshedding on that label.

EDIT reply to: >"Why can't we call them master programmers?"

Because we'd still have endless bikeshedding of the label "master" as in "Master programmers are a myth..."

Re: Things I’ve learned in my 20 years as a software engineer

#36

Post by schwartzworld »

koonsolo wrote: post #29
nonima wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software is whatever you want it to be. I can write software that is not for other humans. That's the most fun part of software engineering to me, when you don't care about the users and just do it just for the fun of doing it.

So you write code in machine language? Or are you writing in a language that tries to be readable by English speaking humans?

Or they write it for themself and not _other_ humans.

Re: Things I’ve learned in my 20 years as a software engineer

#37

Post by naruvimama »

> 11. ..... > Nothing worries me more than a senior engineer that has no opinion of their tools or how to approach building software.

The more you learn the more you realise you were wrong.

Having an opinion has often come to mean one is a fan boy of something and will have it no other way.

I have heard team leads say "this python code is bad because it uses no classes" or "we need to use EMR so we can process all customer data together"

Bad opinions formed can be dangerous and counter productive.

Though I do agree that an opinion based on having a well thought out plan and experience is a sign of maturity.

Re: Things I’ve learned in my 20 years as a software engineer

#38

Post by koonsolo »

sunnyday1337 wrote: post #18

I have seen many similar posts what people have learned but not once have I seen: "Don't assume anything". So many times when shit hit the bricks because someone assumed something about some other thing they clearly don't know everything about. Which eventually lead to the system failing.

A colleague of mine always came with the quote: "Assumption is the mother of all fuckups". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rr88Szc5q0

Re: Things I’ve learned in my 20 years as a software engineer

#39

Post by pjc50 »

grey-area wrote: post #22
pjc50 wrote: post #6

This is a very insightful list. But there is one thing I'd quibble with: while it's inherently a super-subjective metric, I would say that 10x programmers do exist. Both in the "can support a company by themselves" sense and the "mad lone genius" sense. Not all the 10x programmers are good at working with other people or on other people's ideas. 0.1x programmers are often lost or afraid, although they may just be uni…

People are often willing to sacrifice any amount of development velocity to avoid being seen to make mistakes. IMO that attitude never makes sense - it can make sense to avoid certain mistakes at all costs (self-driving car), but it never makes sense to try to avoid blame for them (company refuses to admit their car isn't good enough). This is a problem of culture, not individuals. Does the culture at a company openl…

> it can make sense to avoid certain mistakes at all costs (self-driving car), but it never makes sense to try to avoid blame for them

Eh? As you say, it's a culture thing, and the culture of a lot of humans is that the mistake only matters if you take blame for it. Plenty of people and organisations put more effort into avoiding blame for things than the thing itself.

Blame-free culture is great, but it has to be actively maintained.

Re: Things I’ve learned in my 20 years as a software engineer

#40

Post by Aeolun »

boffinAudio wrote: post #7

40+ years of experience here, and I'll tell you the #1 thing I've learned: * Software is a social service. Its for other humans. Incredibly, it doesn't matter how educated the developer, they still seem to have to learn this lesson themselves, over and over, until it sinks in...

Probably something to do with the computer not caring about that. If you constantly divide your time between someone that’s 100% logical, and someone that generally isn’t, you’re bound to get confused.
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