7 ms·

I was the main developer on the single most critical deployment tool in the company. My departure would've been less than ideal. Either way, the company's hae

by yarg 4y ago

I was the main developer on the single most critical deployment tool in the company. My departure would've been less than ideal. Either way, the company's haemorrhaged talent (now including long term CEO and long term CTO) and the stock price has plummeted since I left. (In no way am I crediting myself for this; at best I was a canary in the coal mine - but I take my solace in schadenfreude.)

ngc248 4y ago
I have been in places like the one you talked about. I also almost had a breakdown because I used to care too much. After that I had an epiphany, now I only care if others care. Its good for my mental health.
leeoniya 4y ago
> and the stock price has plummeted since I left. that describes pretty much every tech company in the past 18 months ;)
- stirfish 4y ago
  yarg was holding together pretty much every tech company.
  - yarg 4y ago
    I do wonder at the extent to which I am the manifestation of a charicature of the burnt-out developer.
  - jvm___ 4y ago
    Yarg owned left-pad.
wonderwonder 4y ago
Software companies with sufficient market share take on an almost zombie like quality. No matter how much damage they take internally they are able to continue lurching forward and making money because there is no one else in the space that is a viable option or they have their customers locked into expensive contracts. I worked at one such company for a few years. It was terrible. The software was garbage and management was truly awful. We were required to hit 10 ticket points each week or pipped. The only way to do so was to work 60+ hours. I got pipped for the first time (~18 months in) when during the first month of covid lockdowns I got 8 instead of the required 10 points. They literally could not understand how I might have distractions going on due to a brand new pandemic, my kids and wife suddenly being home and lockdown. Whatever decision you made they yelled at you. I got yelled at once for not lying to a government official. When I quit, every sr. developer quit within 3 months of me; 7 total left and left behind 6 non sr. devs. This was 3 years ago. The company is hemorrhaging money but just keeps issuing more stock to stay afloat. It used the money from that stock to buy its competition in a very niche market and essentially just put them out of business. So they survive and lurch on.
- photonbeam 4y ago
  > We were required to hit 10 ticket points each week or pipped. I ask about ‘points’ in interviews, its an immediate stoppage for me
  - icedchai 4y ago
    Yes, that's very important. I made the mistake of taking a job where they were into full blown "planning poker" nonsense. It was hell. "Is this a 2 or a 3?" The discussion could go on for ages. "This can't be an 8! Can we break down this into a 5 and a 3 point ticket?" No estimate was allowed to be an 8. I better stop, since I'm having flashbacks...
    - JAlexoid 4y ago
      I guess it depends on the clarity of the work and quality of the facilitator. I have had your experience with poorly organized PM and horror stories during sprints... And I had the best planning sessions with a proficient PM, that made picking up tickets a marvellous pleasure.
    - mrbombastic 4y ago
      Hmm every job I have had uses points this way. I find points discussions particularly mind numbing and have no love for them but I also can see the utility. What is the alternative?
      - DangitBobby 4y ago
        When it ceases to be a useful tool to stay organized, and becomes a burden, it's very frustrating. The alternative is to use the tool when it helps you and ignore it when it's not.
    - josephg 4y ago
      Hah I got in trouble once for just going through a grab bag of bugs from our designer (mostly trivial CSS issues) and fixing them. My manager got upset because the tickets never got their costs estimated, and I never put them in jira. (Even though the “3, 5 or 8” conversation would have taken more engineer time than just fixing the bugs directly). I asked him why he was so upset. Eventually he admitted that closing tickets in jira was how upper management measured how well our team was doing - and by extension him. I thought that sounded like his problem and still refused to put the issues in jira. So he did it - meticulously creating a couple dozen issues, making up a BS point estimation and closing them all as complete. Whenever I think about bullshit jobs, I think about those silly cost estimation cards, that guy, and how deeply satisfying it was that day just diving in and making our product actually better.
treeman79 4y ago
I got hired by a company. First day I found out I was the entire IT staff. They had lost everyone else. For good reasons. Infrastructure was completely failing. First week was rebooting servers at random to try and get things working while I mapped everything out. Eventually rebuilt everything and put together a good team. Key was learning to tell management no. And having someone to keep upper management off our backs.

by yarg 4y ago

ngc248 4y ago

I have been in places like the one you talked about. I also almost had a breakdown because I used to care too much. After that I had an epiphany, now I only care if others care. Its good for my mental health.

leeoniya 4y ago

> and the stock price has plummeted since I left. that describes pretty much every tech company in the past 18 months ;)

stirfish 4y ago
yarg was holding together pretty much every tech company.
- yarg 4y ago
  I do wonder at the extent to which I am the manifestation of a charicature of the burnt-out developer.
- jvm___ 4y ago
  Yarg owned left-pad.

wonderwonder 4y ago

Software companies with sufficient market share take on an almost zombie like quality. No matter how much damage they take internally they are able to continue lurching forward and making money because there is no one else in the space that is a viable option or they have their customers locked into expensive contracts. I worked at one such company for a few years. It was terrible. The software was garbage and management was truly awful. We were required to hit 10 ticket points each week or pipped. The only way to do so was to work 60+ hours. I got pipped for the first time (~18 months in) when during the first month of covid lockdowns I got 8 instead of the required 10 points. They literally could not understand how I might have distractions going on due to a brand new pandemic, my kids and wife suddenly being home and lockdown. Whatever decision you made they yelled at you. I got yelled at once for not lying to a government official. When I quit, every sr. developer quit within 3 months of me; 7 total left and left behind 6 non sr. devs. This was 3 years ago. The company is hemorrhaging money but just keeps issuing more stock to stay afloat. It used the money from that stock to buy its competition in a very niche market and essentially just put them out of business. So they survive and lurch on.

photonbeam 4y ago
> We were required to hit 10 ticket points each week or pipped. I ask about ‘points’ in interviews, its an immediate stoppage for me
- icedchai 4y ago
  Yes, that's very important. I made the mistake of taking a job where they were into full blown "planning poker" nonsense. It was hell. "Is this a 2 or a 3?" The discussion could go on for ages. "This can't be an 8! Can we break down this into a 5 and a 3 point ticket?" No estimate was allowed to be an 8. I better stop, since I'm having flashbacks...
  - JAlexoid 4y ago
    I guess it depends on the clarity of the work and quality of the facilitator. I have had your experience with poorly organized PM and horror stories during sprints... And I had the best planning sessions with a proficient PM, that made picking up tickets a marvellous pleasure.
  - mrbombastic 4y ago
    Hmm every job I have had uses points this way. I find points discussions particularly mind numbing and have no love for them but I also can see the utility. What is the alternative?
    - DangitBobby 4y ago
      When it ceases to be a useful tool to stay organized, and becomes a burden, it's very frustrating. The alternative is to use the tool when it helps you and ignore it when it's not.
  - josephg 4y ago
    Hah I got in trouble once for just going through a grab bag of bugs from our designer (mostly trivial CSS issues) and fixing them. My manager got upset because the tickets never got their costs estimated, and I never put them in jira. (Even though the “3, 5 or 8” conversation would have taken more engineer time than just fixing the bugs directly). I asked him why he was so upset. Eventually he admitted that closing tickets in jira was how upper management measured how well our team was doing - and by extension him. I thought that sounded like his problem and still refused to put the issues in jira. So he did it - meticulously creating a couple dozen issues, making up a BS point estimation and closing them all as complete. Whenever I think about bullshit jobs, I think about those silly cost estimation cards, that guy, and how deeply satisfying it was that day just diving in and making our product actually better.

treeman79 4y ago

I got hired by a company. First day I found out I was the entire IT staff. They had lost everyone else. For good reasons. Infrastructure was completely failing. First week was rebooting servers at random to try and get things working while I mapped everything out. Eventually rebuilt everything and put together a good team. Key was learning to tell management no. And having someone to keep upper management off our backs.