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We are destroying software with Leetcode interviews, resume-driven development, frequent job-hopping, growth investment scams, metrics gaming, promotion-seeking
by neilv 2y ago
We are destroying software with Leetcode interviews, resume-driven development, frequent job-hopping, growth investment scams, metrics gaming, promotion-seeking, sprint theatre, bullshitting at every level of the org chart, and industry indifference.
- unification_fan 2y agoLiterally all of that is because capitalism incentivizes short-term profit over meaningful, society-benefiting work. FOSS doesn't have these problems.
- bawolff 2y agoI feel like resume-driven development is certainly a thing that happens in FOSS.
- Ekaros 2y agoJust how many FOSS projects there are that are dead? Just how many different ways to do things have been invented? Say Linux desktop environments. Or parts of subsystems. FOSS is certainly guilty too.
- unification_fan 2y agoFair, but then again FOSS is born from individual hackers who want to learn how to build X, or who feel like the ecosystem doesn't provide the X they would like to have. It fosters a culture where everyone can hack something together, and where everyone is knowledgeable enough to make responsible use of technology. Working as a for-hire developer doesn't let you experience all of that because you're building a product that someone else wants you to build. No wonder one does not give a shit about writing good software at that point! You've taken all the fun and personal fulfillment out of it! We can build anything we put our mind to -- but most of us are too busy churning out CRUD boilerplate like factory workers. That's depressing.
- _Algernon_ 2y agoHow is FOSS guilty of the same? The code is there free for you to take, modify and fix, even if the project is otherwise abandoned.
- onemoresoop 2y agoYou forgot move fast break things
- begueradj 2y agoI add AI to that list
- fullstackwife 2y agoComputer programs are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made.
- proc0 2y agoAnd rewarding engineers for "impact" rather than correct, reliable, and extensible software.
- efnx 2y agoWhy is it that leadership gets these ideas all at the same time?
- esafak 2y agoThey copy the leader. Word spreads instantly on the Internet.
- dasil003 2y agoBecause the software we are paid to write has an external purpose. As scale increases, supply chains lengthen, and roles specialize, inevitably more and more people are missing the forest for the trees—this isn't an indictment, it's an inevitable result of the pursuit of efficiency and scale at all costs. Many engineers would be happy to polish the thing that exists, perhaps adding complexity the form of scalability, modularity or reusability that isn't actually needed, and in fact may make it harder to adapt to broader changes in the ecosystem that the company operates in. "Impact" is just a suitably hand-wavy management buzzword to be used in lots of different situations where they deem ICs to not sufficiently taking the big picture into account.
- proc0 2y ago> Many engineers would be happy to polish the thing that exists, perhaps adding complexity the form of scalability, modularity or reusability that isn't actually needed, and in fact may make it harder to adapt to broader changes in the ecosystem that the company operates in When done correctly it absolutely adds business value and should not make it harder to adapt or change, that's the point of good engineering. The problem is that you need years, if not decades, of technical experience to see this, and it's also a hard sell when there is no immediate "impact". It's basically something that happens because consumers don't know any better, so then it becomes low priority for making profit... at least until a competitor shows up that has better software and then it has a competitive edge, but that's a different matter.
- chocolatkey 2y agoWhat is wrong with frequent changing of jobs? It’s one of the easiest tools for increasing my compensation. The job market ideally should be so flexible you can switch to another company any time you want, no noncompetes.
- Ekaros 2y agoThat is the problem. That job-hopping is only way to get better compensation. The history, the domain knowledge and accountability is lost when one who made a programming decision is gone. Why care about quality or maintainability if you are gone in year or two anyway...
- bbor 2y agoYou've hit the nail on the head -- the problem is systemic, not the implied sudden lack of virtue. People job hob in our industry b/c even the giants with hundreds of billions in the bank are caught up in absurd quarter-by-quarter performances for their shareholders, which sets the direction of the whole industry.
- trinsic2 2y agoExactly. On the level the parent is describing, having options is a good thing, but the side-effect of this systemic problem is that it fragments our ability to write good software because the process is not about developing good software, its about to profit. Which enshitifies the endeavor, devaluing the quality of the end result.. Slowly, over time, this enshifitication is going to, or already is causing problems in our technological infrastructure and maybe other areas of society.
- sfpotter 2y agoCan't have stewardship without institutional knowledge and long-term employment.
- wrs 2y agoThe topic is “we’re destroying software”, not “we’re destroying techniques to increase your compensation”. Individual compensation and collective quality are not somehow inherently correlated.
- asdev 2y agobest Leetcoders generally add the least value business wise
- orochimaaru 2y agoMost of what is said are symptoms not causes. Leetcode interviews: lack of continuous certification and changing toolsets too fast Frequent job hopping: lack of pay upgrades because software is considered a cost center I could go on but in reality it’s a disconnect between what business thinks the software is worth as opposed to what the engineer wants to do with it. You can say software is an art but commodity art doesn’t make much money. In reality, the ad driven software has greatly inflated salaries (not complaining but it’s reality). Now it’s going to be an ai bubble. But your rank and file business doesn’t care what software bubble is happening but unfortunately they are bound by the costs that come with it. Have you seen the process that happens in defense or medical equipment industries. You probably won’t complain.
- dinkumthinkum 2y agoWhy is LeetCode a symptom of a lack of continuous certification or changing toolsets? I ask because LC is about neither of those things. I agree LC is a symptom of something but I think it’s something else. I also don’t think ad driven software has inflated salaries, there are many, many more software companies than ad based ones, it even only compromises at most half of FANG, which is hardly the only game in software. For defense and medical, these are places where software is not tertiary concerns.
- dijit 2y agoWell, take the macro position. If you didnt have degree requirements and certification bodies for: * accountants * engineers * doctors * lawyers What do you think hiring might look like? Do you think they would build a hiring process to validate to the best of their ability your aptitude of the core fundamentals- except worse than certification and education bodies? I would presume so at least.
- orochimaaru 2y agoThere is a bit of a difference between other professions and software. You wouldn’t hire an orthopedic surgeon for cardiology. Now, the human body doesn’t change that fast. So both are needed. In software the rate of change is much faster. So what happens is tools change and people who want to switch streams for better opportunity have to tweak resumes. Now the only way to validate basic proficiency comes down to leetcode style interviews - for better or worse. It’s pretty much the only common denominator between an interviewer and the candidate.
- readyplayernull 2y agoLoC metrics instead of QoC.
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