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> Javaschools, PHBs, and other failed attempts at the commoditization/regularization of the software engineer brought this about. Personally I am glad the same

> Javaschools, PHBs, and other failed attempts at the commoditization/regularization of the software engineer brought this about. Personally I am glad the same thing happened to other industries like shoemakers and car builders. They have been commoditized: so what? It's good for people who buy their product. The same is true of typical software engineering work. Although I disagree about the extent to which our work has been commoditized. I don't think we're anything like factory workers yet, although it may someday come to that.

gamble 17y ago
The problem with the software industry is that it isn't productized. Probably the majority of programmers are working for internal corporate IT departments cranking out CRUD apps because the company mistakenly believes it's a precious, unique snowflake that couldn't possibly make do with off-the-shelf software for routine business processes, even though they derive no competitive advantage from custom software. Most of these jobs simply shouldn't exist. The larger problem is that too many people profit from the dysfunctions of the software industry. From the empire-building CIO to the outsourcer in India, there are plenty of people who benefit from shovelling bad programmers at bad software, and would lose out if companies bought cheap, standardized software from independent companies.
- locopati 17y ago
  The assumption that cheap, standardized software is either cheap or standardized is a false one. Take the content-management space. For a complex site serving millions of viewers with 100k+ pages, off-the-shelf solutions can be quite expensive (when you account for the initial investment, the time-to-learn, the internal development work required to implement customizations) and often you need to customize the solution. In the end, you end up with a custom solution layered on top of a specific implementation (so, no standardization even if you started from the vanilla off-the-shelf). Implementing a tool that's specific to the needs of the company can turn out to be a reasonable decision.
  - gamble 17y ago
    How many internal corporate apps are serving millions of viewers?
    - locopati 17y ago
      Depends on how you look at it. I work on an internal CMS that has <100 users but powers large websites serving millions. The app is internal but the product goes to the external-facing websites.

gamble 17y ago

The problem with the software industry is that it isn't productized. Probably the majority of programmers are working for internal corporate IT departments cranking out CRUD apps because the company mistakenly believes it's a precious, unique snowflake that couldn't possibly make do with off-the-shelf software for routine business processes, even though they derive no competitive advantage from custom software. Most of these jobs simply shouldn't exist. The larger problem is that too many people profit from the dysfunctions of the software industry. From the empire-building CIO to the outsourcer in India, there are plenty of people who benefit from shovelling bad programmers at bad software, and would lose out if companies bought cheap, standardized software from independent companies.

locopati 17y ago
The assumption that cheap, standardized software is either cheap or standardized is a false one. Take the content-management space. For a complex site serving millions of viewers with 100k+ pages, off-the-shelf solutions can be quite expensive (when you account for the initial investment, the time-to-learn, the internal development work required to implement customizations) and often you need to customize the solution. In the end, you end up with a custom solution layered on top of a specific implementation (so, no standardization even if you started from the vanilla off-the-shelf). Implementing a tool that's specific to the needs of the company can turn out to be a reasonable decision.
- gamble 17y ago
  How many internal corporate apps are serving millions of viewers?
  - locopati 17y ago
    Depends on how you look at it. I work on an internal CMS that has <100 users but powers large websites serving millions. The app is internal but the product goes to the external-facing websites.