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I worked in defense for 10 years then left. I'm assuming its similar to the defense industry I guess (Radar and we were a Boeing sub contractor). There a few

I worked in defense for 10 years then left. I'm assuming its similar to the defense industry I guess (Radar and we were a Boeing sub contractor). There a few things I don't miss: 1) It can be a little stressful, knowing that your software is controlling things that if wrong could go bad (people's lives are at stake). The strong process we had makes you abstract that away, but still its serious work. 2) Yesterdays technology tomorrow. We were using stable releases from years ago on hardware I couldn't buy in a a language hardly anyone uses (we were an Ada/C shop). I do like Ada, but it made it harder for employees let go to find new work. it was somewhat satisfying when the end result got built and it was operational. My software probably running today, somewhere. Even though I left a while ago.

Jtsummers 8y ago
I have a few more points but yours are a good start. It's software work run by hardware companies. They don't schedule or budget or staff correctly. They often put engineers (of any sort) into decision making positions that should belong to computer scientists (or at least those trained in programming). Writing software is often treated as "just typing" when it's really an engineering and design activity. Waterfall is also pervasive as a project management methodology. Even "modified Waterfall" (Vee model and others) are still subpar. What's frustrating is that, on the physical engineering side, they actually get the idea and value of prototypes and iterative development/design. But back to my first point, they still view software writing as a manufacturing activity, and not a design activity. So software shops get compared to the production line and not the engineering offices. Regarding 2: Oh man, yeah. We've got people straight of school stuck on projects written in JOVIAL. Literally put them into a dead-end job straight out of school, we can't retain them. And we don't have the money (from customers) to hire the old timers, they're enjoying retirement too much.
- jcadam 8y ago
  > Oh man, yeah. We've got people straight of school stuck on projects written in JOVIAL. Literally put them into a dead-end job straight out of school, we can't retain them. Exactly this. I got stuck doing Ada near the beginning of my career. Took forever to extricate myself from that trap.

Jtsummers 8y ago

I have a few more points but yours are a good start. It's software work run by hardware companies. They don't schedule or budget or staff correctly. They often put engineers (of any sort) into decision making positions that should belong to computer scientists (or at least those trained in programming). Writing software is often treated as "just typing" when it's really an engineering and design activity. Waterfall is also pervasive as a project management methodology. Even "modified Waterfall" (Vee model and others) are still subpar. What's frustrating is that, on the physical engineering side, they actually get the idea and value of prototypes and iterative development/design. But back to my first point, they still view software writing as a manufacturing activity, and not a design activity. So software shops get compared to the production line and not the engineering offices. Regarding 2: Oh man, yeah. We've got people straight of school stuck on projects written in JOVIAL. Literally put them into a dead-end job straight out of school, we can't retain them. And we don't have the money (from customers) to hire the old timers, they're enjoying retirement too much.

jcadam 8y ago
> Oh man, yeah. We've got people straight of school stuck on projects written in JOVIAL. Literally put them into a dead-end job straight out of school, we can't retain them. Exactly this. I got stuck doing Ada near the beginning of my career. Took forever to extricate myself from that trap.