4 ms·

Sandi Metz wrote a blog post about this: https://www.sandimetz.com/blog/2016/1/20/the-wrong-abstraction https://www.sandimetz.com/blog/2016/1/20/the-wrong-abstr

Sandi Metz wrote a blog post about this: https://www.sandimetz.com/blog/2016/1/20/the-wrong-abstraction https://www.sandimetz.com/blog/2016/1/20/the-wrong-abstracti... > The moral of this story? Don't get trapped by the sunk cost fallacy. If you find yourself passing parameters and adding conditional paths through shared code, the abstraction is incorrect. It may have been right to begin with, but that day has passed. Once an abstraction is proved wrong the best strategy is to re-introduce duplication and let it show you what's right. Although it occasionally makes sense to accumulate a few conditionals to gain insight into what's going on, you'll suffer less pain if you abandon the wrong abstraction sooner rather than later.

BalinKing 7y ago
Sandi Metz's blog (and book) are an absolute gold mine. I'm a junior developer (<5 years), and the material gave me an entirely new outlook on design (object-oriented and otherwise)... and also showed me how un-maintainably most development is done nowadays :( If there was a required reading list for professional developers, I would put her work on with zero hesitation, I feel it to be that important.
- bberrry 7y ago
  Which book are you referring to?
  - steveklabnik 7y ago
    Not your parent, but https://www.poodr.com/ https://www.poodr.com/
    - xenihn 7y ago
      She has a new book too. https://www.sandimetz.com/99bottles https://www.sandimetz.com/99bottles
- klyonrad 7y ago
  You call devs Junior until they have over 5 years experience? Wow, that’s harsh
  - BoiledCabbage 7y ago
    > You call devs Junior until they have over 5 years experience? Wow, that’s harsh Less than 3-4 years is absolutely junior dev. Up until around 7 or 8 years is mid-level. Passing beyond that would be senior dev and the other titles then follow. With the obvious note that it's not strictly time bound - someone could easily get stuck at mid level for much longer if they aren't progressing. It's pretty hard to still be only junior after 7+ years
    - vertexmachina 7y ago
      I agree. I still very much consider myself junior but someone I know with less experience than me just recently got a job with "senior" in the title. I have seen senior job postings that say something like "3+ years of experience." I absolutely do not consider myself senior and I don't think I will for at least seven more years.
  - datavirtue 7y ago
    Ten years. Minimum. I don't trust anyone without gray hair. That includes me and I have twenty years.
  - BalinKing 7y ago
    One of the big reasons I realized I still _was_ a junior developer was because of Sandi Metz's content showing me how long of a journey I still have to go :-P I don't personally think it's strictly about the time one's been programming, although in my experience that can be a good benchmark for e.g. how good one's abstraction, API design, etc. skills are.

BalinKing 7y ago

Sandi Metz's blog (and book) are an absolute gold mine. I'm a junior developer (<5 years), and the material gave me an entirely new outlook on design (object-oriented and otherwise)... and also showed me how un-maintainably most development is done nowadays :( If there was a required reading list for professional developers, I would put her work on with zero hesitation, I feel it to be that important.

bberrry 7y ago
Which book are you referring to?
- steveklabnik 7y ago
  Not your parent, but https://www.poodr.com/ https://www.poodr.com/
  - xenihn 7y ago
    She has a new book too. https://www.sandimetz.com/99bottles https://www.sandimetz.com/99bottles
klyonrad 7y ago
You call devs Junior until they have over 5 years experience? Wow, that’s harsh
- BoiledCabbage 7y ago
  > You call devs Junior until they have over 5 years experience? Wow, that’s harsh Less than 3-4 years is absolutely junior dev. Up until around 7 or 8 years is mid-level. Passing beyond that would be senior dev and the other titles then follow. With the obvious note that it's not strictly time bound - someone could easily get stuck at mid level for much longer if they aren't progressing. It's pretty hard to still be only junior after 7+ years
  - vertexmachina 7y ago
    I agree. I still very much consider myself junior but someone I know with less experience than me just recently got a job with "senior" in the title. I have seen senior job postings that say something like "3+ years of experience." I absolutely do not consider myself senior and I don't think I will for at least seven more years.
- datavirtue 7y ago
  Ten years. Minimum. I don't trust anyone without gray hair. That includes me and I have twenty years.
- BalinKing 7y ago
  One of the big reasons I realized I still _was_ a junior developer was because of Sandi Metz's content showing me how long of a journey I still have to go :-P I don't personally think it's strictly about the time one's been programming, although in my experience that can be a good benchmark for e.g. how good one's abstraction, API design, etc. skills are.