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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

#31

Post by Kerrick »

sodapopcan wrote: post #26

Like the post overall, but the last section is a bit weird for "confessions" as it's all HIGHLY subjective. For example, I worked at a company where no one worked from home and we paired 100% of the time. When COVID hit, we started pairing over Tuple and I found it to be a superior experience to pairing in person (Tuple's drawing and attention drawing tools are far more accurate than my finger, I can use my own keybo…

I suppose I included the last section as a "confession" because I spent years pre-pandemic wishing I could go remote, talking loudly about how open office spaces were bad, etc. That, plus it's embarrassing to admit that I dislike remote work even though I am a remote worker. And not just a remote worker, but an enfranchised remote worker living 3 hours away from the nearest city with an international airport. I made the mistake of rebuilding my life around remote work before I had experienced it long-term.

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

#32

Post by Kerrick »

striking wrote: post #23
SpecialistK wrote: post #11

The section on cyberharassment is really troubling, although with the current vitriol on AI I'm not surprised. Do wish the author mentioned the name of the site though, if only so I can avoid it (and not in the Always Sunny "oh no terrible! where?" way)

I was as curious as you were. Turns out there are only so many popular threaded discussion sites in the vein of HN on the Internet, so an educated guess is all it takes. Without making judgment on the actions of any involved party, I do wonder why the author would choose to bring up this incident and submit it as part of a story to a site where there is a significant overlap in readership.

That incident catalyzed the fear that suppressed my desire to participate online for months. I figured that if I couldn't talk about it now, I might never participate again.

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

#33

Post by layer8 »

sodapopcan wrote: post #29
layer8 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

For me, electronic chat is better most of the time.

Everyone is different. I vastly prefer email over chat, but also wouldn't want to live without the occasional face-to-face.

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

#34

Post by roenxi »

sodapopcan wrote: post #26

Like the post overall, but the last section is a bit weird for "confessions" as it's all HIGHLY subjective. For example, I worked at a company where no one worked from home and we paired 100% of the time. When COVID hit, we started pairing over Tuple and I found it to be a superior experience to pairing in person (Tuple's drawing and attention drawing tools are far more accurate than my finger, I can use my own keybo…

All the confessions are highly subjective. If someone tried a refactor like the one at https://refactoring.com/catalog/replaceConditionalWithPolymo... there is a decent chance it should get picked up and reverted on code review.

Taking a switch statement and spreading it out over 3x classes is not a general improvement, it is very context specific. It makes the code difficult to navigate because what used to all be in one spot and easy to read is now spread out who-knows-where and there might be a special case lurking somewhere.

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

#35

Post by sodapopcan »

layer8 wrote: post #33
sodapopcan wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, electronic chat is better most of the time.

Everyone is different. I vastly prefer email over chat, but also wouldn't want to live without the occasional face-to-face.

"Everyone is different" is my point. Face to face once in a while is nice, though I don't care so much about having it very often with my colleagues in a professional setting.

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

#37

Post by e12e »

p2detar wrote: post #19
kens wrote: post #7

My knowledge-gap confession: even after many years with the languages, I can't write a main() in Python or Java without looking up the format.

With Java 24 it’s now: void main() { }

Not if you want to handle arguments?

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

#38

Post by crystal_revenge »

> left inner join

While I do appreciate this joke (and I do hope this is a joke), I've recently had a project majorly held up because a lead dev didn't understand SQL. It's great to admit gaps but it's equally important to close those gaps.

> As a hiring manager I interviewed software engineers and tried to filter for object-oriented knowledge. Retroactively, it’s clear I was hypocritical.

As some one who has been on the other side of "rejected by an interviewer who didn't understand the thing they've interviewed you about" I, again, appreciate the transparency, but I'm not entirely feeling that the lesson has been learned in the case.

There was a time in my life where I felt ashamed that I didn't know calculus... so I learned calculus and my life has been better for it. While refusing to admit ignorance of a topic is particular problem in tech, confessing that you don't know something and gleefully stopping there is not much better. Holding people up to a standard you do not hold yourself to is a major problem in this field. The technical people I've learned the most from hold you to a high standard and hold themselves to an even higher one.

Of course not every engineer has to hold themselves to a high standard, but if you want to write a blog about a topic, then part of the requirements here is that you do hold yourself to a high standard. Yes, we all have gaps, and we shouldn't let shame get in the way of learning, but we shouldn't let shamelessness about what we don't know limit us either.

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

#39

Post by kbelder »

kens wrote: post #7

My knowledge-gap confession: even after many years with the languages, I can't write a main() in Python or Java without looking up the format.

So many things like that!

I don't know if I could tell you with confidence the proper way to get a string length in any language. Is it a global function or an object method or property? Is it length or count or size? I have to look it up or rely on intellisense every time. I do too much bouncing between languages.

Well, I know it in BASIC. Len().

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

#40

Post by el_benhameen »

crystal_revenge wrote: post #38

> left inner join While I do appreciate this joke (and I do hope this is a joke), I've recently had a project majorly held up because a lead dev didn't understand SQL. It's great to admit gaps but it's equally important to close those gaps. > As a hiring manager I interviewed software engineers and tried to filter for object-oriented knowledge. Retroactively, it’s clear I was hypocritical. As some one who has been on…

Not exactly your main point, but where’d you go to learn calculus? I did the usual classes in high school but none since, and I’d love to develop a better appreciation for it.
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