5 ms·

As I sit here spending hours and hours importing packages, installing modules, downloading tools, finding libraries, patching scripts, following deployment guid

As I sit here spending hours and hours importing packages, installing modules, downloading tools, finding libraries, patching scripts, following deployment guidelines and building gigabytes and gigabytes of artifacts ...for what amounts to a mobile app wrapper around HTML pages.

api 4y ago
The disease has a name: over engineering. https://www.smart-jokes.org/programmer-evolution.html https://www.smart-jokes.org/programmer-evolution.html Most working programmers are in the middle near “seasoned professional.” They spend all their time thinking about how to manage complexity when they should be thinking about how to avoid it.
- AndrewKemendo 4y ago
  Oh my I hadn't seen this before and it is divine!
- pas 4y ago
  The app epidemic is mostly thanks to one single dead dude. Of course it made (and continues to make) billions to Apple. Then naturally half the industry wanted in on the app store game. Eventually it might stop being such a cash cow - maybe thanks to endless numbers of teenagers hyping Fortnite.
- layer8 4y ago
  To be fair, the tech stacks they have to work with often have staggering amounts of accidental complexity.
  - api 4y ago
    It’s seasoned professionals all the way down.
- omnibrain 4y ago
  Only yesterday I encountered a fantastic example. I have to implement an API, there is a swagger/openAPI doc for it, but still, the real interaction and meaning of the calls can be a bit hard to grasp. But the developers provide an example application (in C#). I expected something basic that implements the login flow and some of the more important calls. Instead I found something that could be described as an C# architecture example application. If I wanted to learn C#, I think I could learn a lot about application patterns from it. MVVM, how to separate the concerns into separate "packages" for reusability and the likes. What I can't really learn from it (without already being a C# pro, I work in other environments) is how to use the API.
anyfoo 4y ago
That's one of the reasons I like my low level system programming job (maybe you could call it "embedded"). Of course it has problems of its own, but this particular area is at least a little bit better.
- joezydeco 4y ago
  Except the pay sucks. You can make a lot of money concatenating HTML strings.
  - anyfoo 4y ago
    That is not universally true.
    - spoils19 4y ago
      That is universally true.
    - justin66 4y ago
      Can you share some pointers to embedded jobs that pay well? It's been a source of fascination over the years the way embedded jobs that sound as if they are important, challenging and interesting pay a fraction of other programming jobs.
      - joezydeco 4y ago
        I'm not the parent comment here but I'll note that the uptick in IoT/PaaS projects has created a nice niche if you have low level experience + embedded Linux + some cloud API experience. And not just taking an RPi and having it send JSON up to Azure, but defining a platform and creating a whole project full-stack. Companies are realizing that the IoT node structure is not just a one-shot project that ships and is never maintained. It's part of the revenue stream. So the need for embedded Linux developers is increasing and the experience base out there isn't great. Again, having an RPi in your desk drawer doesn't make you an embedded Linux dev.

api 4y ago

The disease has a name: over engineering. https://www.smart-jokes.org/programmer-evolution.html https://www.smart-jokes.org/programmer-evolution.html Most working programmers are in the middle near “seasoned professional.” They spend all their time thinking about how to manage complexity when they should be thinking about how to avoid it.

AndrewKemendo 4y ago
Oh my I hadn't seen this before and it is divine!
pas 4y ago
The app epidemic is mostly thanks to one single dead dude. Of course it made (and continues to make) billions to Apple. Then naturally half the industry wanted in on the app store game. Eventually it might stop being such a cash cow - maybe thanks to endless numbers of teenagers hyping Fortnite.
layer8 4y ago
To be fair, the tech stacks they have to work with often have staggering amounts of accidental complexity.
- api 4y ago
  It’s seasoned professionals all the way down.
omnibrain 4y ago
Only yesterday I encountered a fantastic example. I have to implement an API, there is a swagger/openAPI doc for it, but still, the real interaction and meaning of the calls can be a bit hard to grasp. But the developers provide an example application (in C#). I expected something basic that implements the login flow and some of the more important calls. Instead I found something that could be described as an C# architecture example application. If I wanted to learn C#, I think I could learn a lot about application patterns from it. MVVM, how to separate the concerns into separate "packages" for reusability and the likes. What I can't really learn from it (without already being a C# pro, I work in other environments) is how to use the API.

anyfoo 4y ago

That's one of the reasons I like my low level system programming job (maybe you could call it "embedded"). Of course it has problems of its own, but this particular area is at least a little bit better.

joezydeco 4y ago
Except the pay sucks. You can make a lot of money concatenating HTML strings.
- anyfoo 4y ago
  That is not universally true.
  - spoils19 4y ago
    That is universally true.
  - justin66 4y ago
    Can you share some pointers to embedded jobs that pay well? It's been a source of fascination over the years the way embedded jobs that sound as if they are important, challenging and interesting pay a fraction of other programming jobs.
    - joezydeco 4y ago
      I'm not the parent comment here but I'll note that the uptick in IoT/PaaS projects has created a nice niche if you have low level experience + embedded Linux + some cloud API experience. And not just taking an RPi and having it send JSON up to Azure, but defining a platform and creating a whole project full-stack. Companies are realizing that the IoT node structure is not just a one-shot project that ships and is never maintained. It's part of the revenue stream. So the need for embedded Linux developers is increasing and the experience base out there isn't great. Again, having an RPi in your desk drawer doesn't make you an embedded Linux dev.