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The worst experiences I ever had at a job were due to the most senior developer there. He was basically given this god-like status from management where he coul

The worst experiences I ever had at a job were due to the most senior developer there. He was basically given this god-like status from management where he could do no wrong, and had free reign of all systems, because he'd been there for so long.. Yes, he was an incredibly capable software developer, but that had led to an ego issue where he thought he knew EVERYTHING, not just developing in his particular stack... so he'd find his way into various systems (software and hardware) he had no experience in, and assume he could just figure it out. We had half a dozen full-on-disaster level situations in the couple years I was there thanks to this 1 person. Each time it was shrugged off as "an accident" because heaven forbid you actually upset him or hold him accountable.

pnako 7y ago
I've observed that pattern with developers who are relatively senior, and have been in the same, smallish place since they graduated. Basically they had no technical feedback ever in their career. Some developers put their crazy ideas and experiments on github; some developers put those in production.
throwaway777555 7y ago
This sounds a lot like my current situation at work. We're a decently-sized company of 100+ people. About a quarter of them are developers. Developers are divided into teams who are responsible for specific components of our system. However, there are also a few "architects" who are basically free agents with god-like status. They don't architect anything. Rather, they do a lot of counter-productive things such as attending meetings for specific teams without those teams knowing. Then they make large decisions about the direction of a given feature without documenting anything, let alone letting those teams in on what's going on. It's always a fun surprise and works wonders for our ability to deliver a solution on time /s Beyond that, they'll go off and develop whatever they feel like and force it through the system. We have a code review process, but if you bring up that problems are present in their code, they will often say that it doesn't matter and that the code just has to go through to meet some unspecified deadlines. They'll get management to skip code reviews if you try to hold them accountable. And of course, this results in things exploding. But then they can clean up those exploded bits, knowing what they were, and come out heroically since they "put out so many fires". I'll stop ranting. But it really is frustrating, especially when you get shut down by management for bringing up any issues with this chaotic group.
- shrimpx 7y ago
  Sounds like every startup ever.

pnako 7y ago

I've observed that pattern with developers who are relatively senior, and have been in the same, smallish place since they graduated. Basically they had no technical feedback ever in their career. Some developers put their crazy ideas and experiments on github; some developers put those in production.

throwaway777555 7y ago

This sounds a lot like my current situation at work. We're a decently-sized company of 100+ people. About a quarter of them are developers. Developers are divided into teams who are responsible for specific components of our system. However, there are also a few "architects" who are basically free agents with god-like status. They don't architect anything. Rather, they do a lot of counter-productive things such as attending meetings for specific teams without those teams knowing. Then they make large decisions about the direction of a given feature without documenting anything, let alone letting those teams in on what's going on. It's always a fun surprise and works wonders for our ability to deliver a solution on time /s Beyond that, they'll go off and develop whatever they feel like and force it through the system. We have a code review process, but if you bring up that problems are present in their code, they will often say that it doesn't matter and that the code just has to go through to meet some unspecified deadlines. They'll get management to skip code reviews if you try to hold them accountable. And of course, this results in things exploding. But then they can clean up those exploded bits, knowing what they were, and come out heroically since they "put out so many fires". I'll stop ranting. But it really is frustrating, especially when you get shut down by management for bringing up any issues with this chaotic group.

shrimpx 7y ago
Sounds like every startup ever.