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The problem with software is a state of warfare between management which sees developers as disposable tools and a plurality of developers that just want things

The problem with software is a state of warfare between management which sees developers as disposable tools and a plurality of developers that just want things to bitch about (thereby becoming the disposable tools). Much of that problem is due to a lack of regulation and missing industry wide definitions. Employers deliberately don’t want to solve this problem because it will reduce the size of the available candidate pool and probably make developers more expensive. Most developers don’t want this problem solved because they don’t want to be exposed as not qualified. I got lucky and found a dream employer recently. What makes an employer great is their culture and willingness to cultivate and retain people. Culture is defined by the quality of people you work with. > Yet I can't bare it. I can't bare the devs that go out of their way to work weekends without being asked If something is truly a passion you will do it more than asked. For some people they have time to fill and instead of throwing that time away they fill the time with something they enjoy.

tomtheelder 4y ago
I absolutely agree that what makes a great employer is a culture of actual valuing the humans in their org and their growth and retention. I agree that this is quite rare. That said, we need to be honest about something: from a strictly business perspective developers ARE disposable tools. Virtually all employees of all orgs are. Great employers are willing to treat their employees with dignity and respect because that's how we should treat everyone. Not because it's smart from a business perspective to do so, but because it's the right thing to do. So yeah I think the most important thing you can look for in an org is ethical leaders, and that that tends to cascade down into ethical employees who treat each other with respect and dignity.
giancarlostoro 4y ago
> a plurality of developers that just want things to bitch about (thereby becoming the disposable tools) I think there should be a sane amount of bitching, but it's all in how you do it and the purpose, if its to get people motivated to improve things, go for it, if its just to always be salty, nah no thanks. I usually tell my team "idk why this is this way, but we can definitely make it better, so why not?" till something catches enough of my managers attention.

tomtheelder 4y ago

I absolutely agree that what makes a great employer is a culture of actual valuing the humans in their org and their growth and retention. I agree that this is quite rare. That said, we need to be honest about something: from a strictly business perspective developers ARE disposable tools. Virtually all employees of all orgs are. Great employers are willing to treat their employees with dignity and respect because that's how we should treat everyone. Not because it's smart from a business perspective to do so, but because it's the right thing to do. So yeah I think the most important thing you can look for in an org is ethical leaders, and that that tends to cascade down into ethical employees who treat each other with respect and dignity.

giancarlostoro 4y ago

> a plurality of developers that just want things to bitch about (thereby becoming the disposable tools) I think there should be a sane amount of bitching, but it's all in how you do it and the purpose, if its to get people motivated to improve things, go for it, if its just to always be salty, nah no thanks. I usually tell my team "idk why this is this way, but we can definitely make it better, so why not?" till something catches enough of my managers attention.