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People advise not to "reinvent the wheel" because doing so imbues you with the ability to create new things yourself- increasing your agency and power thereby r

People advise not to "reinvent the wheel" because doing so imbues you with the ability to create new things yourself- increasing your agency and power thereby relatively decreasing theirs. Also it often comes at some expense to them if they have some claim to your time eg boss/coworker.

isaacremuant 1y ago
I love how you selfishly think about your agency as if there was no team involved dealing with your "snowflake creation". When I give this advice it usually means I don't think the output is better than the existing thing and the dependency cost is better paid in the form of integration.I probably don't think you'll really maintain your creation or think about others using it when you do. As long as we are throwing shitty incentives around. But on a more neutral note, it's a tradeoff with many moving parts. Different choices for different scenarios.
- whstl 1y ago
  If it were my team complaining about "wheel reinvention" or "NIH" I would be ok, but I never saw this kind of gatekeeping at work. It's always internet strangers who are too dogmatic even though there's zero context.
  - hn_go_brrrrr 1y ago
    I've encountered _plenty_ of stubborn dogmatism at work. People get an idea about "the right way" to do something, and refused to consider alternatives.
    - whstl 1y ago
      I have also encountered plenty of stubborn dogmatism at work, but not this type as much. People might add a redundant or dangerous library because they don’t know better but they don’t fight for it, like here.
EasyMark 1y ago
I've never encountered this person. Most people who say it, simply say it to save time and effort. I'm working on a product that allows my customer to do X job. I don't need to reinvent a json parsing library or sqlite-like database to get his site online and running his service, and he doesn't care that I didn't write those libraries. I don't feel guilty for skipping starting from zero. If I'm interested in a subject or algorithm then it makes complete sense to reinvent the wheel for my own personal advancement, knowledge, or amusement.

isaacremuant 1y ago

I love how you selfishly think about your agency as if there was no team involved dealing with your "snowflake creation". When I give this advice it usually means I don't think the output is better than the existing thing and the dependency cost is better paid in the form of integration.I probably don't think you'll really maintain your creation or think about others using it when you do. As long as we are throwing shitty incentives around. But on a more neutral note, it's a tradeoff with many moving parts. Different choices for different scenarios.

whstl 1y ago
If it were my team complaining about "wheel reinvention" or "NIH" I would be ok, but I never saw this kind of gatekeeping at work. It's always internet strangers who are too dogmatic even though there's zero context.
- hn_go_brrrrr 1y ago
  I've encountered _plenty_ of stubborn dogmatism at work. People get an idea about "the right way" to do something, and refused to consider alternatives.
  - whstl 1y ago
    I have also encountered plenty of stubborn dogmatism at work, but not this type as much. People might add a redundant or dangerous library because they don’t know better but they don’t fight for it, like here.

EasyMark 1y ago

I've never encountered this person. Most people who say it, simply say it to save time and effort. I'm working on a product that allows my customer to do X job. I don't need to reinvent a json parsing library or sqlite-like database to get his site online and running his service, and he doesn't care that I didn't write those libraries. I don't feel guilty for skipping starting from zero. If I'm interested in a subject or algorithm then it makes complete sense to reinvent the wheel for my own personal advancement, knowledge, or amusement.