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Blackboard is institutionally bad. The company is rotten to the core. It's pushed onto universities and schools through bribery, corruption, and deceit. I have
by jordigh 11y ago
Blackboard is institutionally bad. The company is rotten to the core. It's pushed onto universities and schools through bribery, corruption, and deceit. I have seen this first-hand at two different places. The admins choose because it looks enterprisey and expensive. They figure they've spent the money, so the problem is solved. They also frequently get some very nice kickbacks for accepting to buy this piece of crap. It's buggy, hard to use, horrible to modify, expensive.
The most honest feedback I can get you is this: for your own moral rectitude, quit this job and find yourself a more ethical job.
- hippich 11y agoThanks for hateback, but i choose to stay. Otherwise if all good people leave, who going to develop good software? (because blackboard will not die even with bad software per your post :)) I will fix it from inside.
- jordigh 11y agoYou won't solve the problem as a software developer. It's not a software problem. Try to climb the ranks into management and weed out corruption as you see it.
- hippich 11y agoMe and other good devs will solve software side of problems, and other good people will fix managerial one :)
- gress 11y agoAre you saying that everyone in management and engineering had been replaced and Blackboard is essentially a startup which happens to have inherited all the exciting contracts? If so, then maybe you stand a chance. Otherwise, I'm sure you'll learn a lot from the attempt.
- hippich 11y agoThere is a lot of new people indeed (both managers and tech.) Quite a few startups were acquihired too. But I think most important factor - management openly concerned about competition and tries to push toward better product. And it appears to be much better timing too - institutions are more open to "cloud" today, than they were 10 years ago.
- jordigh 11y ago"Cloud" in the hands of a corrupt company... will not be good.
- gress 11y agoYou really won't. This isn't mean to be a knock on you, but even the CEO probably can't fix this. Do some research on distruption theory and you'll discover that your company is built to withstand the very kinds of change that you seek. Even a Jedi has to exit when they have no leverage in a given situation. Also - if you don't already have an overwhelmingly strong picture of what is wrong with blackboard, I'd suggest that your heart isn't invested in improving it, and you might be better off at a company whose software you love.
- reality_czech 11y agoOh please. Overdramatic much? Blackboard might have a poor UX, but it at least serves a useful function. Can you say the same for the web 2.0 companies that only exist to spy on you and sell your info to advertisers? If you have evidence of actual corruption, then let's hear it. You can and should get someone to prosecute if the evidence you have is real. Otherwise maybe you should stop making false accusations. This isn't slashdot.