3 ms·

If you ever met an assembly line worker or even watched a "how it's made" video you'd realize how absurd this claim is.

killtimeatwork 6y ago
Agreed. There's one in my family. She's literally putting the same kind of sticker on the same kind of car 8 hours a day for months or years (they rotate positions in factory so that people don't go crazy - but retraining for the new position is a matter of a couple of hours). She's basically a biological machine augmenting the factory pipeline and the company has her only because for now she's cheaper than a robot arm. I see zero parallels between that job and software development.
lambda_obrien 6y ago
Yes, it's not 1:1, but the comparison is apt, IMO. I worked in a factory that had a semi-technical assembly line, in other words we had to train the workers to some level of technical competence (medical devices) and I see parallels in how I was onboarded at my current company. They don't care about your technical designs or how good your algos are, they just want you to pump out ticket completions as fast as possible, ensuring you follow the procedures to the letter, no matter what. As someone who thinks highly of my own abilities (why wouldn't one think highly of themselves?) I feel like my growth is stunted and my full abilities aren't being used because of the strict environment and procedures. I understand why they are there, I know they are important for quality (I was a QA manager at that factory) but I think there are better ways than treating coders like assembly line workers. Don't take the comparison too literally, the actual work of putting a machine together is different than coding, and I'm not talking about "sticker applicators" type assembly lines, I'm talking about high-tech assembly lines like what I experienced (medical devices, in this case). I did base my comment on more experience than a few "How It's Made" episodes, though.

Agreed. There's one in my family. She's literally putting the same kind of sticker on the same kind of car 8 hours a day for months or years (they rotate positions in factory so that people don't go crazy - but retraining for the new position is a matter of a couple of hours). She's basically a biological machine augmenting the factory pipeline and the company has her only because for now she's cheaper than a robot arm. I see zero parallels between that job and software development.

lambda_obrien 6y ago

Yes, it's not 1:1, but the comparison is apt, IMO. I worked in a factory that had a semi-technical assembly line, in other words we had to train the workers to some level of technical competence (medical devices) and I see parallels in how I was onboarded at my current company. They don't care about your technical designs or how good your algos are, they just want you to pump out ticket completions as fast as possible, ensuring you follow the procedures to the letter, no matter what. As someone who thinks highly of my own abilities (why wouldn't one think highly of themselves?) I feel like my growth is stunted and my full abilities aren't being used because of the strict environment and procedures. I understand why they are there, I know they are important for quality (I was a QA manager at that factory) but I think there are better ways than treating coders like assembly line workers. Don't take the comparison too literally, the actual work of putting a machine together is different than coding, and I'm not talking about "sticker applicators" type assembly lines, I'm talking about high-tech assembly lines like what I experienced (medical devices, in this case). I did base my comment on more experience than a few "How It's Made" episodes, though.