3 ms·

developers now are expected to randomly jump around projects and ship without friction. For employers it means they can move us around like pawns. Lot of compa

developers now are expected to randomly jump around projects and ship without friction. For employers it means they can move us around like pawns. Lot of companies have not reorged themselves to this new type of workforce thats much more malleable. it used to be that i pay your due at some enterpise and learn some corner of codebase really well and become go to person. that would give you job security.

chasd00 5mo ago
Working in silos like this has always been an anti pattern though. You end up being employed for 10 years but only have 1 year of actual development experience. Just turning-the-crank and going home was always risky because one day you get laid off and realize you’re 10 years behind the competition.
- JambalayaJimbo 5mo ago
  What I found comfort it in was turning the crank and then using extra time to upskill in various other things (including non software dev domains). Things that weren’t immediately useful to my employer and I never would have been directly assigned, but did pay off after sometime. Now I’m basically expected to do what my boss wants me to do every minute of the day, it’s gotten much more micromanaged.
- Terr_ 5mo ago
  I cynically predict that some of the new practices being hyped could easily end up worse... Before: "I learned very little this year, because I was placed in charge of the same stuff, and I've already learned most of what I could from tinkering with that code, stepping through its architecture, and dealing with those recurring problems." Soon: "I learned very little this year, because I don't deeply interact with anything, I just pull the lever on the babbling slot-machine until I get lucky and things seems to quiet down."
- wiseowise 5mo ago
  As opposed to what? You seriously think that shipping 10 years, instead of turning-the-crank and going home, will save you from the interviewing gauntlet?
Chrisoaks 5mo ago
So what enables job security now?
- BarryMilo 5mo ago
  Your dad owning the company?
- simonw 5mo ago
  Being a really good engineer - the kind of engineer you can assign a feature to and they promptly turn around a robust, maintainable, secure and well documented implementation.
  - JodieBenitez 5mo ago
    hey... claudex helps me being that.
    - necovek 5mo ago
      So does your IDE, your choice of programming language, your OS even — but does it define you/make you a good software engineer?
      - JodieBenitez 5mo ago
        No, but who said that ?
        necovek 5mo ago
        I'll be explicit: Claude is just another tool in your SW engineer's belt. If you believe Claude makes you a good engineer and you previously weren't, I am saying that's not true and you still are not a good engineer even with the latest-and-greatest Claude model. The difference is between "helps" (in your comment) or "you are". Sure, it helps a good engineer do more, do better, etc — but the thread was on being a good engineer.
bluefirebrand 5mo ago
> developers now are expected to randomly jump around projects and ship without friction This describes the expectation my managers had of me at every software job I've had, and I've been doing this for a decade and a half It's definitely not a new thing since LLMs came around, if that is what you were implying
- wiseowise 5mo ago
  > It's definitely not a new thing since LLMs came around, if that is what you were implying It is on a scale that it is required now. Previously you could say "it'll take me a week to decipher the mess", now they can just say "can't you use an agent to make it fast?".
locknitpicker 5mo ago
> it used to be that i pay your due at some enterpise and learn some corner of codebase really well and become go to person. that would give you job security.I I had the displeasure of working with those types. One of them replies to any question or challenge to a technical problem emerging from the PRs they posted with variants of "I've worked here for over a decade, this is how we do things". And then proceeds to argue things like defensive programming is a code smell because it means developers don't trust themselves. I cannot envision any healthy, effective engineering environment where developers don't periodically switch between projects.

chasd00 5mo ago

Working in silos like this has always been an anti pattern though. You end up being employed for 10 years but only have 1 year of actual development experience. Just turning-the-crank and going home was always risky because one day you get laid off and realize you’re 10 years behind the competition.

JambalayaJimbo 5mo ago
What I found comfort it in was turning the crank and then using extra time to upskill in various other things (including non software dev domains). Things that weren’t immediately useful to my employer and I never would have been directly assigned, but did pay off after sometime. Now I’m basically expected to do what my boss wants me to do every minute of the day, it’s gotten much more micromanaged.
Terr_ 5mo ago
I cynically predict that some of the new practices being hyped could easily end up worse... Before: "I learned very little this year, because I was placed in charge of the same stuff, and I've already learned most of what I could from tinkering with that code, stepping through its architecture, and dealing with those recurring problems." Soon: "I learned very little this year, because I don't deeply interact with anything, I just pull the lever on the babbling slot-machine until I get lucky and things seems to quiet down."
wiseowise 5mo ago
As opposed to what? You seriously think that shipping 10 years, instead of turning-the-crank and going home, will save you from the interviewing gauntlet?

Chrisoaks 5mo ago

So what enables job security now?

BarryMilo 5mo ago
Your dad owning the company?
simonw 5mo ago
Being a really good engineer - the kind of engineer you can assign a feature to and they promptly turn around a robust, maintainable, secure and well documented implementation.
- JodieBenitez 5mo ago
  hey... claudex helps me being that.
  - necovek 5mo ago
    So does your IDE, your choice of programming language, your OS even — but does it define you/make you a good software engineer?
    - JodieBenitez 5mo ago
      No, but who said that ?
      - necovek 5mo ago
        I'll be explicit: Claude is just another tool in your SW engineer's belt. If you believe Claude makes you a good engineer and you previously weren't, I am saying that's not true and you still are not a good engineer even with the latest-and-greatest Claude model. The difference is between "helps" (in your comment) or "you are". Sure, it helps a good engineer do more, do better, etc — but the thread was on being a good engineer.

bluefirebrand 5mo ago

> developers now are expected to randomly jump around projects and ship without friction This describes the expectation my managers had of me at every software job I've had, and I've been doing this for a decade and a half It's definitely not a new thing since LLMs came around, if that is what you were implying

wiseowise 5mo ago
> It's definitely not a new thing since LLMs came around, if that is what you were implying It is on a scale that it is required now. Previously you could say "it'll take me a week to decipher the mess", now they can just say "can't you use an agent to make it fast?".

locknitpicker 5mo ago

> it used to be that i pay your due at some enterpise and learn some corner of codebase really well and become go to person. that would give you job security.I I had the displeasure of working with those types. One of them replies to any question or challenge to a technical problem emerging from the PRs they posted with variants of "I've worked here for over a decade, this is how we do things". And then proceeds to argue things like defensive programming is a code smell because it means developers don't trust themselves. I cannot envision any healthy, effective engineering environment where developers don't periodically switch between projects.