4 ms·

I was part of such team. We supported one target only - Windows NT 3.5 and better, full-screen resolution 4:3 between 800x600 and 1280x1024, and database was th

I was part of such team. We supported one target only - Windows NT 3.5 and better, full-screen resolution 4:3 between 800x600 and 1280x1024, and database was the client's problem - we told them what version of Oracle they have to buy. Is it slow? Probably because your network or server is slow, have fun troubleshooting. Yeah, we were a very performant team because we constrained the project a lot and pushed quite a big chunk of it to the client. Today I work in a team that supports a wide array of operating systems, device form factors, resolutions and aspect ratios, input methods; we maintain the backend and it's up to us to make it secure, performant and fast for users from anywhere in the world; and of course API access. Customer data doesn't fit on one disk and their processing can't be done with one machine, and they have a globally distributed workforce. We are slower because we do much more.

vlovich123 2y ago
Yeah I feel like people just don’t understand that the efficiency gains have not kept up with the scope of problems we’ve been tackling and that’s why it feels people used to be great. Games yesterday: worked on certain HW, sound probably required you to jump through hoops to get working, and networking maybe worked on a LAN. If things crashed it was fine because that’s the only thing you ran anyway. Cutting edge graphics for the time but at that time showing an image or playing a video was also an achievement. Games today: supports HW from at least 2 GPU vendors, an insane amount of resolutions and typically basically the same code for PC, PlayStation, XBOX and maybe even Linux and Mac. Sounds and graphics just works. Networking lets you play with people across the continent over the public internet. Oh and the time and effort invested in graphics quality is insane. Teams yesterday: highly motivated engineers who were extremely talented and new every part of the machine Teams today: a mix of highly motivated engineers who are extremely talented with many more who just want their paycheck and to go home of very varying quality of talent. Same expectations of excellence. Machines have gotten very complex that cutting through abstractions is challenging Infrastructure yesterday: sell a database and the business is responsible for maintaining it and having it run well with onsite domain experts to help Infrastructure today: sell almost anything so that you need almost no understanding and expertise of the software you’re utilizing.
- mcbutterbunz 2y ago
  > Teams today: a mix of highly motivated engineers who are extremely talented with many more who just want their paycheck and to go home These two are not mutually exclusive.
  - vlovich123 2y ago
    > of very varying quality of talent You missed a key part of that sentence. Also, there’s a huge difference between two engineers when one is super motivated and engaged by the work vs someone phoning it in.
JohnBooty 2y ago
We are slower because we do much more. Yeah. Ultimately, two or three people could still write a "simple" single threaded single user app with constraints similar to the Windows NT app you describe. But hardly anybody would buy it or want it.
- throwAGIway 2y ago
  With today's technology I can do myself in hours what used to take our team weeks or months. But indeed, nobody buys stuff like that anymore.

vlovich123 2y ago

Yeah I feel like people just don’t understand that the efficiency gains have not kept up with the scope of problems we’ve been tackling and that’s why it feels people used to be great. Games yesterday: worked on certain HW, sound probably required you to jump through hoops to get working, and networking maybe worked on a LAN. If things crashed it was fine because that’s the only thing you ran anyway. Cutting edge graphics for the time but at that time showing an image or playing a video was also an achievement. Games today: supports HW from at least 2 GPU vendors, an insane amount of resolutions and typically basically the same code for PC, PlayStation, XBOX and maybe even Linux and Mac. Sounds and graphics just works. Networking lets you play with people across the continent over the public internet. Oh and the time and effort invested in graphics quality is insane. Teams yesterday: highly motivated engineers who were extremely talented and new every part of the machine Teams today: a mix of highly motivated engineers who are extremely talented with many more who just want their paycheck and to go home of very varying quality of talent. Same expectations of excellence. Machines have gotten very complex that cutting through abstractions is challenging Infrastructure yesterday: sell a database and the business is responsible for maintaining it and having it run well with onsite domain experts to help Infrastructure today: sell almost anything so that you need almost no understanding and expertise of the software you’re utilizing.

mcbutterbunz 2y ago
> Teams today: a mix of highly motivated engineers who are extremely talented with many more who just want their paycheck and to go home These two are not mutually exclusive.
- vlovich123 2y ago
  > of very varying quality of talent You missed a key part of that sentence. Also, there’s a huge difference between two engineers when one is super motivated and engaged by the work vs someone phoning it in.

JohnBooty 2y ago

We are slower because we do much more. Yeah. Ultimately, two or three people could still write a "simple" single threaded single user app with constraints similar to the Windows NT app you describe. But hardly anybody would buy it or want it.

throwAGIway 2y ago
With today's technology I can do myself in hours what used to take our team weeks or months. But indeed, nobody buys stuff like that anymore.