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In other professional fields (like with lawyers), doing work for free is called "pro bono". I would think that if you're being interviewed for lawyer position t

In other professional fields (like with lawyers), doing work for free is called "pro bono". I would think that if you're being interviewed for lawyer position they would ask you how much pro bono work you've done. So I disagree that doing this stuff for free is inherently bad, but I fully agree with the sentiments of the rest of your post. Particularly this: "come hack for us, we give you a fancy chair and large monitors to stare at and even food! what else do you want out of your life?" An old manager of mine was once on the phone to a recruitment agency trying to hire some developers complaining that they hadn't made progress, at one point he screamed, "it's software development, it's not fucking rocket science!" He did that in a room full of developers. For some reason many non-technical people get to become managers of technical people and have that kind of opinion. This then leads to the, "well if it doesn't work you can stay here all night until it does" mentality.

toadi 14y ago
To be very honest. Software development is NOT rocket science. Writing corporate CRUD code is not that difficult... Writing a new 3D game engine is off course more daunting but still not rocket science.
- philbarr 14y ago
  I'm sure it's a lot harder than the manager to which I refer could do. In fact - it's a lot harder than many could manage, and whilst not literally as hard as rocket science, it's still a lot harder than some other fields. For example, "management".
- damian2000 14y ago
  You're right, producing a quality, x million line application that's bug free on a deadline is not rocket science; its harder than rocket science.
- Codhisattva 14y ago
  One difference software engineering has with aerospace engineering is that the people building the rocket get all the time they need. Since it's rocket science it's pretty much a given that if it's rushed or a PM or CEO puts the pressure on (with people working triple shifts for instance) then things just literally blow up. In software the coders rarely have the option or will power to push back against unreasonable deadlines and fantasy launch dates. This is especially common in corporate cultures where a chain of command makes those calls and large scale plans are built around dates pulled out of the air. At best the coders are given lose-lose choices: miss the date or ship a broken product.
- markokocic 14y ago
  Sometimes I wish it was rocket science, since rocket science is at least a science. Corporate CRUD application usually have so complex and contradicting and vague requirements that sometimes software developer has to be very at mind-reading just to figure out what he has to do. And that works until the next change request when it all starts again.
borplk 14y ago
I'm not all that familiar with the field of law but I'm almost sure the "pro bono" work does not compare with the amount of effort that developers put into open source projects. And even if law is an exception, just consider a lot of other professions, accountants, bankers, managers etc... How much open-source-equivalent work do they do? How much do they have to do? What have been the achievements of any of this work for other people (if any)? Compare that to the things that open source community have achieved, entire billion dollar companies are relying on these technologies that started off as hobbies or what not and are maintained and developed further by the community. Given the achievements, I think we deserve a lot better than what we are getting.

toadi 14y ago

To be very honest. Software development is NOT rocket science. Writing corporate CRUD code is not that difficult... Writing a new 3D game engine is off course more daunting but still not rocket science.

philbarr 14y ago
I'm sure it's a lot harder than the manager to which I refer could do. In fact - it's a lot harder than many could manage, and whilst not literally as hard as rocket science, it's still a lot harder than some other fields. For example, "management".
damian2000 14y ago
You're right, producing a quality, x million line application that's bug free on a deadline is not rocket science; its harder than rocket science.
Codhisattva 14y ago
One difference software engineering has with aerospace engineering is that the people building the rocket get all the time they need. Since it's rocket science it's pretty much a given that if it's rushed or a PM or CEO puts the pressure on (with people working triple shifts for instance) then things just literally blow up. In software the coders rarely have the option or will power to push back against unreasonable deadlines and fantasy launch dates. This is especially common in corporate cultures where a chain of command makes those calls and large scale plans are built around dates pulled out of the air. At best the coders are given lose-lose choices: miss the date or ship a broken product.
markokocic 14y ago
Sometimes I wish it was rocket science, since rocket science is at least a science. Corporate CRUD application usually have so complex and contradicting and vague requirements that sometimes software developer has to be very at mind-reading just to figure out what he has to do. And that works until the next change request when it all starts again.

borplk 14y ago

I'm not all that familiar with the field of law but I'm almost sure the "pro bono" work does not compare with the amount of effort that developers put into open source projects. And even if law is an exception, just consider a lot of other professions, accountants, bankers, managers etc... How much open-source-equivalent work do they do? How much do they have to do? What have been the achievements of any of this work for other people (if any)? Compare that to the things that open source community have achieved, entire billion dollar companies are relying on these technologies that started off as hobbies or what not and are maintained and developed further by the community. Given the achievements, I think we deserve a lot better than what we are getting.