4 ms·

"It's the third time I have come across this situation; when you produce really good code, and you get fired without any reason" I doubt it has anything to do

by kbart 10y ago

"It's the third time I have come across this situation; when you produce really good code, and you get fired without any reason" I doubt it has anything to do with his coding skills. You can be good at programming but still be an arrogant asshole (not saying that an author actually is, just one of possibilities). Working with a group of other people, soft skills are no less important than technical ones. Nobody let go good programmers just because they are too good, that just doesn't make sense.

dozzie 10y ago
It may also be that he actually produces shitty code, but with advanced esoteric techniques, so it looks like smart code to somebody not trained enough in those techniques. I've seen this happen (I produced such things myself).
crdoconnor 10y ago
>Nobody let go good programmers just because they are too good, that just doesn't make sense. Yeah, they do. I've seen this happen. It's simply an occurrence of the principal-agent problem. In theory the company doesn't want to see good programmers go but poor programmers in positions of weak authority don't like to see their authority challenged by better programmers and they usually don't like change either. They are motivated to get programmers better than them let go. Upper management (the "principal") typically don't have visibility into the development process. They usually can't tell who is good and who isn't. They can see the disastrous results of shitty code but they don't necessarily know who or what to blame (if anybody). They often end up following recommendations. >soft skills are no less important than technical ones This kind of misses the point. In practice if "soft skills" end up mattering more than technical skills then that's a sign that the environment is highly politicized. Which is fine if that's what you want, but if you want to build great products and exercise your technical skills it's a very poor environment to be in. On the bright side, if you really are that good and you're mobile (i.e. not stuck in some backwater city with a few poor quality employers) and you really were fired for being too good, and you really are much better than your coworkers then finding a better paying job should be easy.
informatimago 10y ago
Of course it make sense, happens all the time!
LoSboccacc 10y ago
At some point he should realize the common denominator behind all these firings, instead of blaming everyone else. Maybe it's even him doing bad client selection and he's truly flawless in programming, but still.

by kbart 10y ago

dozzie 10y ago

It may also be that he actually produces shitty code, but with advanced esoteric techniques, so it looks like smart code to somebody not trained enough in those techniques. I've seen this happen (I produced such things myself).

crdoconnor 10y ago

>Nobody let go good programmers just because they are too good, that just doesn't make sense. Yeah, they do. I've seen this happen. It's simply an occurrence of the principal-agent problem. In theory the company doesn't want to see good programmers go but poor programmers in positions of weak authority don't like to see their authority challenged by better programmers and they usually don't like change either. They are motivated to get programmers better than them let go. Upper management (the "principal") typically don't have visibility into the development process. They usually can't tell who is good and who isn't. They can see the disastrous results of shitty code but they don't necessarily know who or what to blame (if anybody). They often end up following recommendations. >soft skills are no less important than technical ones This kind of misses the point. In practice if "soft skills" end up mattering more than technical skills then that's a sign that the environment is highly politicized. Which is fine if that's what you want, but if you want to build great products and exercise your technical skills it's a very poor environment to be in. On the bright side, if you really are that good and you're mobile (i.e. not stuck in some backwater city with a few poor quality employers) and you really were fired for being too good, and you really are much better than your coworkers then finding a better paying job should be easy.

informatimago 10y ago

Of course it make sense, happens all the time!

LoSboccacc 10y ago

At some point he should realize the common denominator behind all these firings, instead of blaming everyone else. Maybe it's even him doing bad client selection and he's truly flawless in programming, but still.