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Is this just me or aside from 40% spent on tooling (which I don't know what the deal is in this case but tbh I've seen some folks really spent their time ineffi

Is this just me or aside from 40% spent on tooling (which I don't know what the deal is in this case but tbh I've seen some folks really spent their time inefficiently trying to make everything perfect) the breakdown looks completely normal for an established project at medium to big corp?

TheRealPomax 4y ago
While it's not just you, and there are lots of folks who think that's just fine: if someone hires a dev and then make them spend only 10% doing the job they applied for, whoever hired them lied about the job, and the product they're hiring for has fundamental problems that you can either commit to solve, or burn bodies over in the hopes that you get transferred out to a different position and it's not your problem anymore. One of those may be good for business, but it's not the one that makes for a good company.
- dilyevsky 4y ago
  So 20% spent on tests and another 20% on meetings where presumably you decide what to build is not part of the job they applied for? Nonsense! If we’re doing hot takes here there’s no way everyone else on his team is spending 40% of their time on tooling without management doing anything about it
  - TheRealPomax 4y ago
    What a lovely thought, I do hope that's true, but everything I've seen about this story and people replying to it points to "no, actually, everyone else apparently spends 40% on fighting their internal tooling, too, and not a single manager seems to give a fuck". So there's that.
leros 4y ago
It's really difficult getting hundreds or thousands of people working together. Tooling, communication, etc become really critical. Otherwise, it's just chaos. As a result, you spend a lot less time "actually working" and a lot more time "collaborating" and "project managing". Spending less than 50% of your time on "actually working" is very normal in large companies
francisofascii 4y ago
Was thinking that same. The 40% spent on tooling to deploy code and of course on call time is never fun, but the other time seems normal. But leaving only 10% of real development is not great and the author can probably do better. It is a good reminder that if you get to do greenfield development or generally enjoy your work, don't be quick to jump ship just for higher pay/prestige.
epolanski 4y ago
I thought the same, bar on calls it described most jobs I had.

TheRealPomax 4y ago

While it's not just you, and there are lots of folks who think that's just fine: if someone hires a dev and then make them spend only 10% doing the job they applied for, whoever hired them lied about the job, and the product they're hiring for has fundamental problems that you can either commit to solve, or burn bodies over in the hopes that you get transferred out to a different position and it's not your problem anymore. One of those may be good for business, but it's not the one that makes for a good company.

dilyevsky 4y ago
So 20% spent on tests and another 20% on meetings where presumably you decide what to build is not part of the job they applied for? Nonsense! If we’re doing hot takes here there’s no way everyone else on his team is spending 40% of their time on tooling without management doing anything about it
- TheRealPomax 4y ago
  What a lovely thought, I do hope that's true, but everything I've seen about this story and people replying to it points to "no, actually, everyone else apparently spends 40% on fighting their internal tooling, too, and not a single manager seems to give a fuck". So there's that.

leros 4y ago

It's really difficult getting hundreds or thousands of people working together. Tooling, communication, etc become really critical. Otherwise, it's just chaos. As a result, you spend a lot less time "actually working" and a lot more time "collaborating" and "project managing". Spending less than 50% of your time on "actually working" is very normal in large companies

francisofascii 4y ago

Was thinking that same. The 40% spent on tooling to deploy code and of course on call time is never fun, but the other time seems normal. But leaving only 10% of real development is not great and the author can probably do better. It is a good reminder that if you get to do greenfield development or generally enjoy your work, don't be quick to jump ship just for higher pay/prestige.

epolanski 4y ago

I thought the same, bar on calls it described most jobs I had.