4 ms·

Tell me about it. I have 6.5 more hours of people here slowly becoming more and more terrified as they begin to realize they have no idea how to maintain the so

Tell me about it. I have 6.5 more hours of people here slowly becoming more and more terrified as they begin to realize they have no idea how to maintain the software they asked me to build. I can't wait to be free. (In case anyone didn't notice, I'm OP's co-founder)

vyrotek 16y ago
I just got notice that I can leave whenever. What shall I do with all this new found freedom!? Maybe I'll stop by your work.
- pwhelan 16y ago
  If I were in your shoes I'd try to have something to do tonight or after work. Just something non-work but good. Perhaps a romantic dinner with the wife or playing golf with a friend. Something to keep your general momentum going and relax a bit before you hit it hard again. Congratulations!
jaekwon 16y ago
sounds like you're just being greedy?? did you choose to leave your coworkers behind with a heap of your code, or did they ask you to leave? nothing wrong with leaving a company, but developers should at least leave their work maintainable.
- DaveChild 16y ago
  It's the responsibility of the company to ensure they are capable of coping with a coder leaving. I've worked for companies where they've just not given any time or thought to what happens if the coder leaves.
  - jaekwon 16y ago
    I agree, that companies should be prepared for developers to leave. I maintain that developers and engineers should leave their work maintainable. I know I'm going to get downvoted, but this needs to be said. With great programming power comes great programming responsibilities. And you and I know this power doesn't come from silicon or management. We all bitch about crappy products, and fail to see the developers on the other leave their turd piles for management to "manage". Or we bitch about crappy code left behind by the prior owners -- spitting at the sky playing musical chairs. If you need to leave your job, at least offer to maintain your shit. Don't leave them trembling in fear. Save us greedy monkeys.
    - ryanelkins 16y ago
      I totally agree. I perhaps should have clarified. It's not unmaintainable due to the code, its unmaintainable due to the lack of people capable of maintaining it. This is largely due to hiring me as the sole .NET developer (where their other devs who are primarily PHP devs felt somewhat comfortable with C#) and then deciding that I should be the sole Java developer instead (yeah, I was REAL happy about that), in case they ever want to put these apps on Linux machines or something else. Now, C# and Java are pretty close syntactically so hopefully they'll be OK. There is a huge difference in libraries and core API structure as well as deployment though, so it's not just an easy step to take. Having marginal .NET skills does not translate to marginal Java skills though. We do have a brand new Java dev, but it's really asking alot to put all of this on their shoulders with just a few months out of college.
      - puredemo 16y ago
        Also a pretty big opportunity for him if he can pull it off.
    - metamemetics 16y ago
      >If you need to leave your job, at least offer to maintain your shit. Isn't that the same as keeping your job but deciding you don't want to be paid for it? Typing up a polished design doc for your successor would be the best thing to do, anything more would be paid consultant work.
      - jaekwon 16y ago
        I agree, typing up a polished design doc should be enough. That's not something you can throw together on your last day though. You get a polished design doc by maintaining the doc and your software simultaneously. No, it's not like you're working full time. Anyone can offer to help out a couple hours a week after they leave. It's not just good service, but it's also the most intelligent thing we can do: the original writer of software is by far in the best position to maintain it. If we all did this, we'd all benefit.
    - dnsworks 16y ago
- jasonlotito 16y ago
  Being maintainable doesn't mean anyone can maintain it. Their needs to be a certain level of quality to the person doing the maintaining as well. =)
- ryanelkins 16y ago
  The primary problem is that I've been developing in Java and everyone else is a PHP developer. They did recently hire another Java developer but they are right out of school and are going to struggle with having to be the sole person responsible for some large and rather critical applications.
- char 16y ago
  There is nothing in the post that even remotely implies he is leaving his coworkers with a heap of unmaintainable code.

vyrotek 16y ago

I just got notice that I can leave whenever. What shall I do with all this new found freedom!? Maybe I'll stop by your work.

pwhelan 16y ago
If I were in your shoes I'd try to have something to do tonight or after work. Just something non-work but good. Perhaps a romantic dinner with the wife or playing golf with a friend. Something to keep your general momentum going and relax a bit before you hit it hard again. Congratulations!

jaekwon 16y ago

sounds like you're just being greedy?? did you choose to leave your coworkers behind with a heap of your code, or did they ask you to leave? nothing wrong with leaving a company, but developers should at least leave their work maintainable.

DaveChild 16y ago
It's the responsibility of the company to ensure they are capable of coping with a coder leaving. I've worked for companies where they've just not given any time or thought to what happens if the coder leaves.
- jaekwon 16y ago
  I agree, that companies should be prepared for developers to leave. I maintain that developers and engineers should leave their work maintainable. I know I'm going to get downvoted, but this needs to be said. With great programming power comes great programming responsibilities. And you and I know this power doesn't come from silicon or management. We all bitch about crappy products, and fail to see the developers on the other leave their turd piles for management to "manage". Or we bitch about crappy code left behind by the prior owners -- spitting at the sky playing musical chairs. If you need to leave your job, at least offer to maintain your shit. Don't leave them trembling in fear. Save us greedy monkeys.
  - ryanelkins 16y ago
    I totally agree. I perhaps should have clarified. It's not unmaintainable due to the code, its unmaintainable due to the lack of people capable of maintaining it. This is largely due to hiring me as the sole .NET developer (where their other devs who are primarily PHP devs felt somewhat comfortable with C#) and then deciding that I should be the sole Java developer instead (yeah, I was REAL happy about that), in case they ever want to put these apps on Linux machines or something else. Now, C# and Java are pretty close syntactically so hopefully they'll be OK. There is a huge difference in libraries and core API structure as well as deployment though, so it's not just an easy step to take. Having marginal .NET skills does not translate to marginal Java skills though. We do have a brand new Java dev, but it's really asking alot to put all of this on their shoulders with just a few months out of college.
    - puredemo 16y ago
      Also a pretty big opportunity for him if he can pull it off.
  - metamemetics 16y ago
    >If you need to leave your job, at least offer to maintain your shit. Isn't that the same as keeping your job but deciding you don't want to be paid for it? Typing up a polished design doc for your successor would be the best thing to do, anything more would be paid consultant work.
    - jaekwon 16y ago
      I agree, typing up a polished design doc should be enough. That's not something you can throw together on your last day though. You get a polished design doc by maintaining the doc and your software simultaneously. No, it's not like you're working full time. Anyone can offer to help out a couple hours a week after they leave. It's not just good service, but it's also the most intelligent thing we can do: the original writer of software is by far in the best position to maintain it. If we all did this, we'd all benefit.
  - dnsworks 16y ago
jasonlotito 16y ago
Being maintainable doesn't mean anyone can maintain it. Their needs to be a certain level of quality to the person doing the maintaining as well. =)
ryanelkins 16y ago
The primary problem is that I've been developing in Java and everyone else is a PHP developer. They did recently hire another Java developer but they are right out of school and are going to struggle with having to be the sole person responsible for some large and rather critical applications.
char 16y ago
There is nothing in the post that even remotely implies he is leaving his coworkers with a heap of unmaintainable code.