A dev's thoughts on developer productivity (2022) • Hacker News Board

Re: A dev's thoughts on developer productivity (2022)

#51

Post by mym1990 » Fri, Jun 28, 2024, 1:58 PM UTC

BurningFrog wrote: post #32

arresin wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t after too late though?

It's really hard to design code before it exists! Once it's working, you know enormously more than when you started, and all you have to do is refactor the mediocre design you happened to build into something better, without breaking the functionality. With good test suites and solid refactoring skills, that is actually both very doable and often a lot of fun!

I feel like architecture has almost nothing to do with the low level task of coding, and more to do with organizing the order of operations which stem from the business level requirements, and identifying the services that will be used. Architecture is also useful for documenting how things work in a system, and then passing that understanding to anyone that is interested in the future.

Re: A dev's thoughts on developer productivity (2022)

#52

Post by nsvd » Fri, Jun 28, 2024, 5:22 PM UTC

hollerith wrote: post #49

mym1990 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another thing to mention is that if you find a way to do 8 hours of work in 4, almost no company will just let you take the other 4 for yourself, unless you do so quietly, so you have just created more work for yourself by becoming more productive.

Sure, but if you really did find a way to double your productivity, you can probably find a way to translate that into significantly higher income although probably not right away.

Realistically, whoever manages you will take credit for the additional productivity and leverage it to get more money for themselves.

Re: A dev's thoughts on developer productivity (2022)

#53

Post by arresin » Fri, Jun 28, 2024, 9:47 PM UTC

reverius42 wrote: post #39

BurningFrog wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really hard to design code before it exists! Once it's working, you know enormously more than when you started, and all you have to do is refactor the mediocre design you happened to build into something better, without breaking the functionality. With good test suites and solid refactoring skills, that is actually both very doable and often a lot of fun!

Wish I could upvote more. Similarly, I always like to say you should plan to write (at least) two versions/iterations of everything. The first one bottom up, to discover what problem you're solving, and the second top down, once you know the problem.

That’s great if you have the time for it but a bit impractical to write, architect, then refactor.

Re: A dev's thoughts on developer productivity (2022)

#54

Post by OJFord » Fri, Jun 28, 2024, 11:37 PM UTC

rokob wrote: post #25

OJFord wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this from your second link is closest to what I'm getting at: > Somewhat confusingly, some companies use Tech Lead as a title, and others use it as a role. In this list of archetypes, the Tech Lead is one approach to operating as a Staff engineer, but it's quite common to perform the Tech Lead role without having the impact expected of a Staff-level engineer. My point is a bit 'bigger' than how do you operate…

Google has a title called TLM which is tech lead + manager which is meant to straddle the divide. In practice you have twice the expectations which are themselves conflicting with only the one salary. It is often used for ICs to try out management before making the decision which ladder to stay on. Most TLMs are at the staff level so kind of fits that staff engineer who is a junior manager that you describe.

Yeah I see that now on the site you linked, as well as in his book I think & Tanya Reilly's 'The SE Path' linked from its intro (that's all I can read before it arrives). Both seem helpful texts (I've ordered & have access to ebook resp.) so really appreciate the link, thanks.

Re: A dev's thoughts on developer productivity (2022)

#55

Post by mym1990 » Sat, Jun 29, 2024, 1:57 PM UTC

hollerith wrote: post #49

mym1990 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another thing to mention is that if you find a way to do 8 hours of work in 4, almost no company will just let you take the other 4 for yourself, unless you do so quietly, so you have just created more work for yourself by becoming more productive.

Sure, but if you really did find a way to double your productivity, you can probably find a way to translate that into significantly higher income although probably not right away.

This is probably true, but if we are talking about climbing the corporate ladder here...that is primarily done through peacocking to management and networking well enough to get to the next rung, not through being very productive. If you are a 10x employee, why would a company want to elevate you out of that and into management?

But if you're going a different, more self-starter focused path, income opportunities should be increased, yes.