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> That's what 99% of engineers should aspire to. I wholeheartedly disagree. You're trying to force a generation of imagination into a box. That will only destr

> That's what 99% of engineers should aspire to. I wholeheartedly disagree. You're trying to force a generation of imagination into a box. That will only destroy the very imagination you need.

mathgladiator 7y ago
So, I have a different and more sinister version. My sinister version is yes, yes, please, keep those imaginations in the box so that I may continue to have a monopoly.... whwhahahaahhaa ---- I'm a principal engineer with a fully capable imagination, and I once got the feedback that my creativity was "transcendental"; the reality is that I don't confine myself to schedule, and my only real discipline is using English to describe my thoughts and improve as a writer. I try very hard to get people to think out of the box, but it is really hard because 99% of the work does not require "divine inspiration". Most people gravitate towards this advice because it is most applicable, and it becomes a virtuous cycle for them. However, it creates a vicious cycle of the Pareto distribution where 1% of engineers can actually use their max level of creativity and use the full breadth of computer science.
- Darkphibre 7y ago
  OMG, resistance to change is so crazy. I've fought for years to get teams to adopt a relatively simple pattern (complete with transition plans to minimize pain). After the change finally happens, everyone talks about how amazing and brilliant it is, and if I ever have big ideas like this "please share them." So, I bring up data quality, and how we need a centralized test architecture! Same. Blank. Stares... and I'm another year in on shifting the needle, while random reports spontaneously stop breaking and we wait for customers to report data outages. Blows my mind.
  - mathgladiator 7y ago
    Oh, and there can be good reasons like inertia. However, it is very human to resist to change since incentives are aligned with status quo. It is a frustrating field to say the least, but at least some companies fail providing opportunities to try again.
diminoten 7y ago
What software engineers need to learn is that their skills aren't magic, and they don't need to be coddled to be entirely productive. So many engineers have learned this, that if you can't, you aren't competitive in the field unless you're literally in the top 0.001%, and no, you aren't.

> That's what 99% of engineers should aspire to. I wholeheartedly disagree. You're trying to force a generation of imagination into a box. That will only destroy the very imagination you need.

mathgladiator 7y ago

So, I have a different and more sinister version. My sinister version is yes, yes, please, keep those imaginations in the box so that I may continue to have a monopoly.... whwhahahaahhaa ---- I'm a principal engineer with a fully capable imagination, and I once got the feedback that my creativity was "transcendental"; the reality is that I don't confine myself to schedule, and my only real discipline is using English to describe my thoughts and improve as a writer. I try very hard to get people to think out of the box, but it is really hard because 99% of the work does not require "divine inspiration". Most people gravitate towards this advice because it is most applicable, and it becomes a virtuous cycle for them. However, it creates a vicious cycle of the Pareto distribution where 1% of engineers can actually use their max level of creativity and use the full breadth of computer science.

Darkphibre 7y ago
OMG, resistance to change is so crazy. I've fought for years to get teams to adopt a relatively simple pattern (complete with transition plans to minimize pain). After the change finally happens, everyone talks about how amazing and brilliant it is, and if I ever have big ideas like this "please share them." So, I bring up data quality, and how we need a centralized test architecture! Same. Blank. Stares... and I'm another year in on shifting the needle, while random reports spontaneously stop breaking and we wait for customers to report data outages. Blows my mind.
- mathgladiator 7y ago
  Oh, and there can be good reasons like inertia. However, it is very human to resist to change since incentives are aligned with status quo. It is a frustrating field to say the least, but at least some companies fail providing opportunities to try again.

diminoten 7y ago

What software engineers need to learn is that their skills aren't magic, and they don't need to be coddled to be entirely productive. So many engineers have learned this, that if you can't, you aren't competitive in the field unless you're literally in the top 0.001%, and no, you aren't.