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I think the field of tech is more segmented than many realize (in terms of culture, technology, even geography to an extent) For example, I've got a decent-siz

I think the field of tech is more segmented than many realize (in terms of culture, technology, even geography to an extent) For example, I've got a decent-sized network and I've only ever met one person who works in government tech. And it wasn't through that network. But you can't tell me the government doesn't have legions of people working on its systems. Even talking with this friend about work is like speaking another language. He builds, tests, and manages huge digital systems, but all of it is done using this product called Microsoft Dynamics, which I'd never even heard of. He doesn't really write any code, but the medium he works in is as complex and powerful as a programming language ecosystem. Yet there's almost no crossover between the jobs each of us might apply for. It's like an uncanny, alternate universe, coexisting with the one I live in. I think there are many such universes and it's entirely possible to go through your career without ever meeting someone from one of the others.

jl6 5y ago
100%. SAP is another ERP parallel universe, with its own language (ABAP), industry certification schemes, conferences, publications, culture... These vendors specialize in solving the nexus of unfun problems that sit at the heart of every large organization (invoicing & expenses, accounting, payroll, budgeting & forecasting, financial statements…) and I believe them to be quite well insulated from the forces of open source and consumerization that have shaped the wider industry, because there is no consumer/hobbyist path to creating an alternative. Workday has come closest.
- aksss 5y ago
  > because there is no consumer/hobbyist path to creating an alternative I think one of the biggest impediments is that the audience is highly risk-adverse, and the problem domain is highly risk-prone. There's an enormous incentive to go with an industry "known good" even if you know you're getting thrown over a barrel. ERP conversion are highly, highly likely to fail in terms of on-budget, on-time (more so than the general abysmal record of IT projects). Lack of business ownership/knowledge of processes and requirements is usually at the heart of it, IME. I've been through a couple SAP implementations, a couple SAP upgrades, and conversions to other platforms in my earlier life (Deltek, Dynamics), and they are truly the worst projects on the planet to do. In the government contracting space, Deltek (which most have never even heard of) is such a winner with accounting departments because they're playing to government auditors - the level of scrutiny from just saying "we run Deltek" compared to some roll-your-own solution is miles of difference and ultimate cost. I don't have any relationship with or love for Deltek, btw, this is just my IRL observation and an example of what the "customer" is thinking about - they could care less about technology stack. I think most finance departments just "mind the machine" they have - it's really rare (again, IME) to find people in a finance department who have expert knowledge of the key business processes, report audiences/dependencies, and how everything ties together. You can throw a ton of business analysts at it and still find dark corners that went unaddressed after or the night before go-live. And you're impacting things like payroll, benefits calculations, vendor payments, invoicing, taxation, etc. High risk stuff to kludge up.
mhh__ 5y ago
One of things I really like about working on the D programming language is there sheer depth of characters I have met through it. We are all of a similar mould but we often come from very different backgrounds and paths. For example: Hedge fund traders, Game Engine lead devs, scientists, profession esports players, aerospace engineers etc. I particularly enjoy that D has given a bunch of smart people with no qualifications a venue to do what they love and get paid a small fortune doing it.

jl6 5y ago

100%. SAP is another ERP parallel universe, with its own language (ABAP), industry certification schemes, conferences, publications, culture... These vendors specialize in solving the nexus of unfun problems that sit at the heart of every large organization (invoicing & expenses, accounting, payroll, budgeting & forecasting, financial statements…) and I believe them to be quite well insulated from the forces of open source and consumerization that have shaped the wider industry, because there is no consumer/hobbyist path to creating an alternative. Workday has come closest.

aksss 5y ago
> because there is no consumer/hobbyist path to creating an alternative I think one of the biggest impediments is that the audience is highly risk-adverse, and the problem domain is highly risk-prone. There's an enormous incentive to go with an industry "known good" even if you know you're getting thrown over a barrel. ERP conversion are highly, highly likely to fail in terms of on-budget, on-time (more so than the general abysmal record of IT projects). Lack of business ownership/knowledge of processes and requirements is usually at the heart of it, IME. I've been through a couple SAP implementations, a couple SAP upgrades, and conversions to other platforms in my earlier life (Deltek, Dynamics), and they are truly the worst projects on the planet to do. In the government contracting space, Deltek (which most have never even heard of) is such a winner with accounting departments because they're playing to government auditors - the level of scrutiny from just saying "we run Deltek" compared to some roll-your-own solution is miles of difference and ultimate cost. I don't have any relationship with or love for Deltek, btw, this is just my IRL observation and an example of what the "customer" is thinking about - they could care less about technology stack. I think most finance departments just "mind the machine" they have - it's really rare (again, IME) to find people in a finance department who have expert knowledge of the key business processes, report audiences/dependencies, and how everything ties together. You can throw a ton of business analysts at it and still find dark corners that went unaddressed after or the night before go-live. And you're impacting things like payroll, benefits calculations, vendor payments, invoicing, taxation, etc. High risk stuff to kludge up.

mhh__ 5y ago

One of things I really like about working on the D programming language is there sheer depth of characters I have met through it. We are all of a similar mould but we often come from very different backgrounds and paths. For example: Hedge fund traders, Game Engine lead devs, scientists, profession esports players, aerospace engineers etc. I particularly enjoy that D has given a bunch of smart people with no qualifications a venue to do what they love and get paid a small fortune doing it.