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Well, I can’t read the whole article because it is on medium. But I think I understand the gist. For about 24 years I was a full stack developer: installed serv
by irrational 3y ago
Well, I can’t read the whole article because it is on medium. But I think I understand the gist. For about 24 years I was a full stack developer: installed servers and software and configured them, did DDL and DML work (I wrote many many thousands of sql queries), wrote tens of thousands of lines of server side code, and did front end web development without the use of frameworks like react or Vue.
Then, there was a need for someone to do more integration work and I’d recently come off a project so I was chosen. I’m amazed that anyone that does integration work calls themself a programmer. There is almost no programming involved. 99% of it is just setting up AWS services, hooking them together, using Apache NIFI to process files (which is a drag and drop application - no programming required!), using MFT to transfer files, etc. None of it is custom code. So boring. A monkey who knows how to click buttons and fill in forms could do this work. And yet, they classify people doing this work as senior software engineer III!
- jahsome 3y agoI would love to hear what the people who inherited maintenance of your projects might say. There's another word for boring: stable. The mark of a good engineer is not the ability to craft sexy, clever, bespoke, ego-boosting applications. It's recognizing there's an appropriate (rare) time to do so. If you want a challenge, there's always golf or Advent of Code.
- TheLoafOfBread 3y ago> There's another word for boring: stable. Regarding frameworks that works until your framework of choice stops being supported. Then the fun begins.
- jahsome 3y agoThe alternative is to create your own framework (named officially so, or not) which is by definition unsupported, unless your org prioritizes it. At which point you're in an identical position. Why not take advantage of the time it _is_ supported?
- mattgreenrocks 3y agoReact/Vue are not a requirement for a maintainable full stack app. Was all code prior to React guaranteed to be spaghetti? Of course not! Wisdom is knowing when to go custom and when not to. Proclaiming that it is rare may be more an indication of what sector and types of work you do instead of an industry truism.
- jahsome 3y agoI don't use react or vue. In fact, these days I don't use any frameworks, personally. You're absolutely correct the important decision is knowing when it's pertinent, i.e. when it serve organizational goals which of course vary by sector, project, and a dozen or more variables; and that was my point.
- mattgreenrocks 3y agoIt used to be called “integration engineer.” And it sucked then, too. The most dangerous thing is the myopic view that all programming should be reduced to this drudgery. Not only is it boring as sin, it also doesn’t even work that well sometimes, and resists being understood from first principles.