3 ms·

No interest in learning backend dev stuff?

coldtea 4y ago
Why should they be? If they were a doctor, would you ask them "no interest in learning x-rays" in a similar situation, if they were doing anesthesiology?
- malborodog 4y ago
  But what we do is not the same as medicine, which is highly regulated and has implications for life and death. Nothing stops us from learning any new technical thing we care to.
  - coldtea 4y ago
    >But what we do is not the same as medicine Doesn't mean it's "whatever need there is and whatever I ask you to do, and forget the role you applied for, to and was hired to do". >Nothing stops us from learning any new technical thing we care to. Nothing should stop us from focusing on the kind of programming layer/expertise we want to do, either, be it systems, backend, front-end, data science, If people WANT to change layer/role, they can do it themselves. And hopefully at a better company, where they can focus on their desired role, and aren't asked to also write front-end code when they were hired as systems engineers, or perhaps mop the floor because "you surely can learn that too, it's not like moping the floor is like medicine".
    - VBprogrammer 4y ago
      I'm not the cleaner in my office but I still take my cup to the dishwasher and put my litter in the bin when I leave. I'm not sure what I'd have done in the OPs situation but it wouldn't have been going round and round in circles slowly improving my own work in isolation.
  - tomrod 4y ago
    My thoughts: > But what we do is not the same as medicine It is extraordinarily similar from a systems aspect > which is highly regulated Some areas of software development are highly regulated, and this is an environmental constraint instead of a work methods outcome > has implications for life and death. Much of software has implications for life and death, especially at firmware level or medical device & AI/ML. If your experience is only with FAANG or web front ends, then sure, this statement has teeth. But software automates processes, and a lot of processes can end in death, either by intent (military) or accident (health, law enforcement, manufacturing)
- luckylion 4y ago
  Yes. "Our patients are dying left and right, I was able to pick up a new field of anesthesiology, I could've picked up doing x-rays" => "why didn't you?" Totally understandable if he says "because I don't like backend", but if you're essentially doing busy work just to keep yourself from going insane while someone else is struggling managing their work, you might as well help them. You'll learn something new, they'll struggle less, and the project will be better off.
  - coldtea 4y ago
    And the company would get away with using people as they like, and under-stuffing roles because "everybody free can do anything else we lack"...
    - luckylion 4y ago
      Maybe, but it's not like they'll learn from a project failing and a developer leaving on bad terms that they should staff projects appropriately. They'll shrug and go on while some guy suffered for months and another guy was bored out of his mind.
- is_true 4y ago
  He could've learnt to mock the endpoints from the backend.
  - franciscop 4y ago
    I literally said I mocked up the endpoints from the backend? To which my manager was angry?
    - is_true 4y ago
      Sorry. I wasn't able to see that on your comment.
- justinclift 4y ago
  Because there was a clear mismatch in available dev time vs what was needed, in the front-end vs backend err... teams. Thus asking the question. As per the answer, although interest was there the situation itself didn't allow it.
franciscop 4y ago
I knew some backend dev stuff (Node.js) and am very much interested. This was Go, and while I wasn't particularly interested (I'd prefer to continue with Node) I would compromise and learn Go to help him and the project. I suggested it but again our manager was strongly against it. Something I didn't mention which adds an extra of why I was unable to help, this was in Japan, and the backend-{everything} was performed in Japanese while I didn't speak the language, so talk about "not knowing the language" they were using.
Accacin 4y ago
For some people, it's not just about learning it's also about extra stress and worry that they might take on work they can't complete. I completely understand that. I'm the type of person who will mostly say yes to anything, given some allowance on estimates and time.

Why should they be? If they were a doctor, would you ask them "no interest in learning x-rays" in a similar situation, if they were doing anesthesiology?

malborodog 4y ago
But what we do is not the same as medicine, which is highly regulated and has implications for life and death. Nothing stops us from learning any new technical thing we care to.
- coldtea 4y ago
  >But what we do is not the same as medicine Doesn't mean it's "whatever need there is and whatever I ask you to do, and forget the role you applied for, to and was hired to do". >Nothing stops us from learning any new technical thing we care to. Nothing should stop us from focusing on the kind of programming layer/expertise we want to do, either, be it systems, backend, front-end, data science, If people WANT to change layer/role, they can do it themselves. And hopefully at a better company, where they can focus on their desired role, and aren't asked to also write front-end code when they were hired as systems engineers, or perhaps mop the floor because "you surely can learn that too, it's not like moping the floor is like medicine".
  - VBprogrammer 4y ago
    I'm not the cleaner in my office but I still take my cup to the dishwasher and put my litter in the bin when I leave. I'm not sure what I'd have done in the OPs situation but it wouldn't have been going round and round in circles slowly improving my own work in isolation.
- tomrod 4y ago
  My thoughts: > But what we do is not the same as medicine It is extraordinarily similar from a systems aspect > which is highly regulated Some areas of software development are highly regulated, and this is an environmental constraint instead of a work methods outcome > has implications for life and death. Much of software has implications for life and death, especially at firmware level or medical device & AI/ML. If your experience is only with FAANG or web front ends, then sure, this statement has teeth. But software automates processes, and a lot of processes can end in death, either by intent (military) or accident (health, law enforcement, manufacturing)
luckylion 4y ago
Yes. "Our patients are dying left and right, I was able to pick up a new field of anesthesiology, I could've picked up doing x-rays" => "why didn't you?" Totally understandable if he says "because I don't like backend", but if you're essentially doing busy work just to keep yourself from going insane while someone else is struggling managing their work, you might as well help them. You'll learn something new, they'll struggle less, and the project will be better off.
- coldtea 4y ago
  And the company would get away with using people as they like, and under-stuffing roles because "everybody free can do anything else we lack"...
  - luckylion 4y ago
    Maybe, but it's not like they'll learn from a project failing and a developer leaving on bad terms that they should staff projects appropriately. They'll shrug and go on while some guy suffered for months and another guy was bored out of his mind.
is_true 4y ago
He could've learnt to mock the endpoints from the backend.
- franciscop 4y ago
  I literally said I mocked up the endpoints from the backend? To which my manager was angry?
  - is_true 4y ago
    Sorry. I wasn't able to see that on your comment.
justinclift 4y ago
Because there was a clear mismatch in available dev time vs what was needed, in the front-end vs backend err... teams. Thus asking the question. As per the answer, although interest was there the situation itself didn't allow it.

franciscop 4y ago

I knew some backend dev stuff (Node.js) and am very much interested. This was Go, and while I wasn't particularly interested (I'd prefer to continue with Node) I would compromise and learn Go to help him and the project. I suggested it but again our manager was strongly against it. Something I didn't mention which adds an extra of why I was unable to help, this was in Japan, and the backend-{everything} was performed in Japanese while I didn't speak the language, so talk about "not knowing the language" they were using.

Accacin 4y ago

For some people, it's not just about learning it's also about extra stress and worry that they might take on work they can't complete. I completely understand that. I'm the type of person who will mostly say yes to anything, given some allowance on estimates and time.