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I used to work for a company that had less than 130 employees and none of the software services were exposed to public - the total user count was 130 users. And

I used to work for a company that had less than 130 employees and none of the software services were exposed to public - the total user count was 130 users. And we had a Kubernetes cluster. Thanks for an insightful response - Don't you think that a lot of wizbang software developers just want to use latest and greatest buzzword thing, whatever that might be, to get some cool points? As I grow older, I see increasing lack of objectivity and decreasing attention to KISS principles.

mjfisher 7y ago
> Don't you think that a lot of wizbang software developers just want to use latest and greatest buzzword thing Yes, absolutely, and it drives me up the wall. I've seen some incredibly unsuitable technology choices made, the complexity of which have absolutely sunk productivity on projects. That said, it's easy to become cynical and associate anything that's become recently popular with hype-driven garbage. But that can blind you to some really great new stuff too. I tend to hang behind the very early adopters and wait to see how useful new tech becomes in the wild - the "a year with X" style blog posts tend to be really informative.
- bernawil 7y ago
  What's a good recent example of hype-driven software? The only good example I can think of is MongoDB. All the other hyped techs in recent memory I can think of were all objectively good: Nodejs, Reactjs, Docker, Kubernetes, etc. In the same vein, I laugh every time someone brings out "javascript framework flavor of the month". That hasn't been true for 5 years at least.
  - quickthrower2 7y ago
    Yeah I agree web dev has settled imo on React/npm/typescript/webpack. I like the stability. Hooks is there for some excitement though!
  - mjfisher 7y ago
    I think React would be a pretty good example of the kind of thing I'm talking about, actually. Just to be clear: I like React and I'm building a product with it right now of my own free choice. It does what it was built to do very well. The point I'm trying to make is that people often think in absolute terms. The problem isn't thinking "React is good for SPAs" - it's thinking "React is good for all websites". I've come across a number of engineers now who genuinely think React is a good fit for e.g. totally static sites, "because it's fast". I've come across similar persistent beliefs around NoSQL databases. Some teams wouldn't begin to consider an RDBMS for their primary data store, even while their data is heavily relational - because "SQL databases don't scale". It's not that technologies are good or bad - it's the blind belief that a given technology is best for all situations. The hype drives the development. Not of the underlying tech itself, but in the teams using that tech.
coryrc 7y ago
If you switch companies every two years for your first ten years, you make 50% more than someone who changed once. Companies have set it up so you must optimize your resume to get a competitive salary. Now, start giving 10% yearly raise as standard and maybe employees can afford to work on simple solutions.
- t-writescode 7y ago
  I don't know. I'm a pretty big fan of staying with a company that treats me well and pays me well enough. I don't need a 300k / year salary when I have a team that respects me and that I respect and we work on interesting problems together.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    A company that respects you wouldn’t pay you under market value. If the same company had to hire someone else with your same skillset as they expand or replace a coworker, they would pay them market value. They would have to offer competitive salary. When that happens, you find new employees making more than equally skilled existing employees. It’s called salary inversion.
    - t-writescode 7y ago
      Well, some companies don't make enough to pay you market value; but, the company I worked for was not paying higher wages for the newer employees than myself and I got pretty regular, pleasant raises.
      - scarface74 7y ago
        Why would I sacrifice my finances because a company that didn’t have a business plan that allowed them to pay their employees market value? If the owner’s sold the business would they give you part of the proceeds? I bet they talk about the company “being like a family”, don’t they?

mjfisher 7y ago

> Don't you think that a lot of wizbang software developers just want to use latest and greatest buzzword thing Yes, absolutely, and it drives me up the wall. I've seen some incredibly unsuitable technology choices made, the complexity of which have absolutely sunk productivity on projects. That said, it's easy to become cynical and associate anything that's become recently popular with hype-driven garbage. But that can blind you to some really great new stuff too. I tend to hang behind the very early adopters and wait to see how useful new tech becomes in the wild - the "a year with X" style blog posts tend to be really informative.

bernawil 7y ago
What's a good recent example of hype-driven software? The only good example I can think of is MongoDB. All the other hyped techs in recent memory I can think of were all objectively good: Nodejs, Reactjs, Docker, Kubernetes, etc. In the same vein, I laugh every time someone brings out "javascript framework flavor of the month". That hasn't been true for 5 years at least.
- quickthrower2 7y ago
  Yeah I agree web dev has settled imo on React/npm/typescript/webpack. I like the stability. Hooks is there for some excitement though!
- mjfisher 7y ago
  I think React would be a pretty good example of the kind of thing I'm talking about, actually. Just to be clear: I like React and I'm building a product with it right now of my own free choice. It does what it was built to do very well. The point I'm trying to make is that people often think in absolute terms. The problem isn't thinking "React is good for SPAs" - it's thinking "React is good for all websites". I've come across a number of engineers now who genuinely think React is a good fit for e.g. totally static sites, "because it's fast". I've come across similar persistent beliefs around NoSQL databases. Some teams wouldn't begin to consider an RDBMS for their primary data store, even while their data is heavily relational - because "SQL databases don't scale". It's not that technologies are good or bad - it's the blind belief that a given technology is best for all situations. The hype drives the development. Not of the underlying tech itself, but in the teams using that tech.

coryrc 7y ago

If you switch companies every two years for your first ten years, you make 50% more than someone who changed once. Companies have set it up so you must optimize your resume to get a competitive salary. Now, start giving 10% yearly raise as standard and maybe employees can afford to work on simple solutions.

t-writescode 7y ago
I don't know. I'm a pretty big fan of staying with a company that treats me well and pays me well enough. I don't need a 300k / year salary when I have a team that respects me and that I respect and we work on interesting problems together.
- scarface74 7y ago
  A company that respects you wouldn’t pay you under market value. If the same company had to hire someone else with your same skillset as they expand or replace a coworker, they would pay them market value. They would have to offer competitive salary. When that happens, you find new employees making more than equally skilled existing employees. It’s called salary inversion.
  - t-writescode 7y ago
    Well, some companies don't make enough to pay you market value; but, the company I worked for was not paying higher wages for the newer employees than myself and I got pretty regular, pleasant raises.
    - scarface74 7y ago
      Why would I sacrifice my finances because a company that didn’t have a business plan that allowed them to pay their employees market value? If the owner’s sold the business would they give you part of the proceeds? I bet they talk about the company “being like a family”, don’t they?