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There are two types of devs at my job, those that care about shipping lots of new things fast, using new frameworks and pushing metrics. Then we have me and a f
by efxhoy 3y ago
There are two types of devs at my job, those that care about shipping lots of new things fast, using new frameworks and pushing metrics. Then we have me and a few others fighting fires that the fast shippers leave behind. I’m fine with it, I enjoy analyzing database queries and figuring out what to index. As long as manager understands where the fires are coming from and why we need to spend time putting them out there’s no problem.
- ryandrake 3y agoUnfortunately, at far too many companies, those "ship new things fast" developers are the ones who get promoted, get rewarded with the best projects, and grow their careers and influence, while the firefighters just keep fighting fires.
- ants_everywhere 3y agoI'm curious if anyone has stories about making this work in the long run. It seems like such a natural division of labor that it appears everywhere. But I also feel like I've never seen a company explicitly optimize processes around it. So I'm curious to hear any battle stories.
- OkayPhysicist 3y agoThe problem that I'd imagine is a variation of "Why does Sales get paid so much?". Basically, the more obvious the connection between your contribution and the company making more money, the easier it is to reward you with a slice of the pie. In a codified "trailblazers and firefighters" model, the trailblazers are much more obviously tied to the company's bottom line. Feature X is required to close deal with company Y, this software team built this feature. Meanwhile, the people frantically cleaning up the mess the first team left is only nebulously connected to the company raking in more cash, relegating them to a second-tier position despite having harder work.