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This isn’t meant to be directed at you personally. Don’t be a vigilante. Either lead, follow or get out of the way. Most people just prefer to complain than cre

This isn’t meant to be directed at you personally. Don’t be a vigilante. Either lead, follow or get out of the way. Most people just prefer to complain than create positive change though, because it’s less effort.

saagarjha 5y ago
I'm not entirely sure what you mean?
- dagw 5y ago
  When developers end up "in an environment (they) don’t want to use" they often have one of 4 different responses: 1) Say "I'm really sorry, but I cannot do my best work in this environment", and hand in their resignation. 2) Learn to work within the constraints given and find ways to be productive anyway. 3) Take on the responsibility of trying to work within the system and improve things. 4) Bitch and moan, get all passive aggressive, start working slower (to prove their point) and generally piss off their surroundings, spread negativity and tank morale. The point is that you should always pick some combination of 1-3, rather than 4. However 4 is by far the easiest and makes most people feel better about themselves so that is the one they tend to go for. It is also by far the most unprofessional, and reflects rather badly on you. Full disclosure: I may have done nr. 4 at some point in my career.
  - tut-urut-utut 5y ago
    What's wrong with 4? Option 1 is not always possible. Not everyone can just switch to another job at a whim, especially if that job fits in other categories quite well, e.g. good salary, very short commute, nice people. Option 2 can be tried for a while, but if one knows he can't be as productive as he could have been given the choice of tools, motivation goes down quickly. I mean, why bother putting 10-50% more effort for the same output? Option 3 is often unrealistic. Usually, the type of companies that doesn't give you a choice of choosing your tools is a company where trying to change something is almost impossible. And we are left with Option 4. Except pissing of the surrounding, all other stuff is just what the company deserves. Also, no need to start working slower, that's what already happens because of the prescribed tools, and doing so intentionally is very bad, but as I said, also no need to put extra effort to compensate lost productivity.
    - dagw 5y ago
      Option 4 doesn't really primarily affect the company, it affects your colleagues and co-workers, none of whom are responsible for the situation you find yourself in. So if you're not going to do anything to improve your own situation, don't compensate for that by making the situation worse for everyone else around you with your negative attitude and constant complaining.
      - tut-urut-utut 5y ago
        In a company like that, it's most likely that other colleagues are also affected by the same thing, or some other restrictions. I may be missing Emacs, another co-worker may be missing VSCode and the third one would complain that he has to use something else instead of Sublime Text. And we all hate we have to use Jira, and would rather use maven or even ant instead of that goddamned gradle. Hearing that other co-workers have the same or similar issues can even make the team bond better because they are in the same situation. Sometimes expressing dissatisfaction with the way a company works is the only way to change things.
        Twisell 5y ago
        I think that's more like option 3 and aiming to be the rebel advocating for change instead of the grumpy douchebag. The line might be thin between the two positions I'll grant you that. I've tryed my best to be a 3 at my current gig but I guess I fall into 4 from time to time.
  - saagarjha 5y ago
    I usually pick something along the lines of "use whatever I want anyways, and pick option 3 if they are amenable to it, otherwise just keep doing my thing silently".

saagarjha 5y ago

I'm not entirely sure what you mean?

dagw 5y ago
When developers end up "in an environment (they) don’t want to use" they often have one of 4 different responses: 1) Say "I'm really sorry, but I cannot do my best work in this environment", and hand in their resignation. 2) Learn to work within the constraints given and find ways to be productive anyway. 3) Take on the responsibility of trying to work within the system and improve things. 4) Bitch and moan, get all passive aggressive, start working slower (to prove their point) and generally piss off their surroundings, spread negativity and tank morale. The point is that you should always pick some combination of 1-3, rather than 4. However 4 is by far the easiest and makes most people feel better about themselves so that is the one they tend to go for. It is also by far the most unprofessional, and reflects rather badly on you. Full disclosure: I may have done nr. 4 at some point in my career.
- tut-urut-utut 5y ago
  What's wrong with 4? Option 1 is not always possible. Not everyone can just switch to another job at a whim, especially if that job fits in other categories quite well, e.g. good salary, very short commute, nice people. Option 2 can be tried for a while, but if one knows he can't be as productive as he could have been given the choice of tools, motivation goes down quickly. I mean, why bother putting 10-50% more effort for the same output? Option 3 is often unrealistic. Usually, the type of companies that doesn't give you a choice of choosing your tools is a company where trying to change something is almost impossible. And we are left with Option 4. Except pissing of the surrounding, all other stuff is just what the company deserves. Also, no need to start working slower, that's what already happens because of the prescribed tools, and doing so intentionally is very bad, but as I said, also no need to put extra effort to compensate lost productivity.
  - dagw 5y ago
    Option 4 doesn't really primarily affect the company, it affects your colleagues and co-workers, none of whom are responsible for the situation you find yourself in. So if you're not going to do anything to improve your own situation, don't compensate for that by making the situation worse for everyone else around you with your negative attitude and constant complaining.
    - tut-urut-utut 5y ago
      In a company like that, it's most likely that other colleagues are also affected by the same thing, or some other restrictions. I may be missing Emacs, another co-worker may be missing VSCode and the third one would complain that he has to use something else instead of Sublime Text. And we all hate we have to use Jira, and would rather use maven or even ant instead of that goddamned gradle. Hearing that other co-workers have the same or similar issues can even make the team bond better because they are in the same situation. Sometimes expressing dissatisfaction with the way a company works is the only way to change things.
      - Twisell 5y ago
        I think that's more like option 3 and aiming to be the rebel advocating for change instead of the grumpy douchebag. The line might be thin between the two positions I'll grant you that. I've tryed my best to be a 3 at my current gig but I guess I fall into 4 from time to time.
- saagarjha 5y ago
  I usually pick something along the lines of "use whatever I want anyways, and pick option 3 if they are amenable to it, otherwise just keep doing my thing silently".