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My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

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Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#471

Post by dota_fanatic »

Gonzih wrote: post #458
okyup wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's barely creative. You have a small amount of room to work within someone's requirements. You can be the guy creating the requirements, but then you're better off specializing in that and letting someone else do the grunt work.

I think this statement is very extreme case scenario. I never really saw programming job without freedom to create requirement at least on technical front.

It's not creative in many cases because the technical solution already exists, invented and optimized decades ago. Just because developers are ignorant of known CS, prefer their ego (NIH), or chose to use the brand new shiny thing with no ecosystem to solve the business problems in front of them, doesn't mean they're engaging in effective creativity. How many times has the wheel been re-invented, do you think?

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#472

Post by mahyarm »

kdamken wrote: post #464
mahyarm wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know of a resource that explains all of the causes of various RSI symptoms and how to avoid them? Like how did you learn about the ulnar issue? I've found that there isn't an RSI doctor you can go to easily or look up on yelp, and when you go to doctors they can be pretty useless in this category.

Oh man, do I feel you on that. Doctors are fairly worthless in my opinion for these issues. I say this having dealt with various RSI/nerve pain issues for over 6 years, and tens of thousands of dollars in out of pocket medical bills. They'll pretty much always be like "just take an Aleve", or "I don't know, do some physical therapy or wait and see if it gets better. Next patient please!". Your health and getting bett…

Wow thank you! I'm not at that level of pain myself, but I've started to notice symptoms that started to worry me, one of them being that numbness you originally described. I want to prevent a disaster before it happens, since my livelihood depends on it.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#473

Post by chillacy »

allsystemsgo wrote: post #375
arturadib wrote: post #172

Obviously this is a very personal matter - i.e. if you don't enjoy managing people and prefer to tinker with, learn, and build things, pursuing a management career is the worst choice you can make from a happiness standpoint. It's also not generally true that managers (even those with fancy titles) are more financially successful than engineers. By definition, there are far fewer VP/Director level positions than ther…

Even being in California? Salaries I've seen have been not that great considering the cost of living. If I can get 6 figures in the southern states, why would I go out to Twitter/FB/Google etc?

I don't know if the parent will reply, but I've heard of twitter giving out million dollar stock grants to senior engineers _after_ the IPO. I can only imagine that pre-IPO stocks would have been even more.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#474

Post by jimbokun »

raducu wrote: post #227
Zelmor wrote: post #24

He would have been unhappy with the other choice as well, because then it is the programming side he would be missing out on. I would advise everyone to read The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173536 You chose one option out of many, and the others may no longer be a possibility. However, the writer's unhappiness does not spawn from his inability to be successful at what he does,…

I understand the authors frustration, and it's not really about money as some here believe. In my 6 jobs as a programmer I've also seen so many incompetent managers, so much time wasted, so much bullshit, so much backstabbing and narcissists galore. But the problem is not really about THEM managers, but about ME and my maladaptive cognitive schemas (commonly known to everybody as lack of social skills, subjugation to…

This is probably why Jony Ive's title is a three letter acronym starting with "C".

Only way to make sure his creative decisions are actually implemented.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#475

Post by gvb »

s_ngularity wrote: post #319
baldfat wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost TL:DR: There was no road less traveled by they were equally the same, but he fooled himself into think he made a special choice. Just some poetry discussion. "The Road Not Taken" is considered the most misunderstood and misinterpreted poem. (It was great to make freshmen tackle this poem in freshmen Theology Class. Then we went on to most misinterpreted scripture verse :) So, in t…

Out of curiosity, what did your instructor consider the most misinterpreted scripture verse?

Tangential, but the most misquoted text is 1 Timothy 6:10 "For the love of money is the root of all evil". Most people elide "the love of" which totally changes the application.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#476

Post by TheAndruu »

My office mate (both programmers) put it this way: Your title walks into the room before you.

In an initial meeting with external customers / partners, the invitees may not know anything about you or your actual role . They see the titles on other people on say a meeting invite- "Senior Architect" or "Director of Engineering" and have much more interest in those guys and ask them the questions. Despite those guys often being so far removed from the actual technology they (in our experience) knew nothing and just said "yes" to everything... or just asked us later.

It's stupid, and it's petty... but it happens, just like this guy tells it.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#477

Post by kdamken »

mahyarm wrote: post #472
kdamken wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh man, do I feel you on that. Doctors are fairly worthless in my opinion for these issues. I say this having dealt with various RSI/nerve pain issues for over 6 years, and tens of thousands of dollars in out of pocket medical bills. They'll pretty much always be like "just take an Aleve", or "I don't know, do some physical therapy or wait and see if it gets better. Next patient please!". Your health and getting bett…

Wow thank you! I'm not at that level of pain myself, but I've started to notice symptoms that started to worry me, one of them being that numbness you originally described. I want to prevent a disaster before it happens, since my livelihood depends on it.

No problem, hope it helps!

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#478

Post by Periodic »

wdr1 wrote: post #459

> I simply didn’t realize how little room you have to advance as just a programmer I think this is one thing that has changed dramatically (and for the better) in the last ~10 years. I started as a developer in the 90s. The only way to advance was to go into management. I was pretty conflicted, as I was promoted from developer to manager. Quit, went to be a developer at a new job, and got prompted to manager again. Q…

Perhaps you work in a different part of Google than I do, but I've been here for four years and I see many good engineers getting pushed into management roles to advance their careers. Their job title is still that of an engineer, but they end up with reports, schedules full of meetings and use Google Docs as their primary editor.

It seems that the ability to have an impact while writing code is quite limited in the industry, and the way to expand it is to take on leadership and management roles, even if you aren't technically moving onto the management ladder.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#479

Post by anonymoose123 »

iolothebard wrote: post #445
anonymoose123 wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Step 3: Profit? (Seriously, it is easier said than done. Do you know how many small businesses failed?)

Depends on how you define success and failure. I've had 7 failed startups (#8 is in the process of failing at the moment). I consider them all failures because I didn't end up with FU money. Funny thing is startup 6 & 7 really got me close. Although, even if I won a billion dollar lottery, I'd still move on to startup #9. Half the fun is in the building anyway :-)

Agree that fun is in building the companies. But how long can you afford keep doing it (assuming you have family/commitment)? Success is what i call, you can keep doing what you like, not dependent on money, etc - iow, financial independence.

BTW, would be interesting to know the geographies of people who comment in this thread - say SF Bay Area, TX, MA, etc. That really adds new perspective to this discussion. My 2c.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#480

Post by throwaway462016 »

wdr1 wrote: post #459

> I simply didn’t realize how little room you have to advance as just a programmer I think this is one thing that has changed dramatically (and for the better) in the last ~10 years. I started as a developer in the 90s. The only way to advance was to go into management. I was pretty conflicted, as I was promoted from developer to manager. Quit, went to be a developer at a new job, and got prompted to manager again. Q…

>>I think this is one thing that has changed dramatically

I don't think it has changed all that much. How many engineers that report to you are near your age or older than you?

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