2 ms·
Plenty of value comes from things the customer doesn't care about. Customers want features as fast and as cheap as possible. I derive joy from solid test suite
by Arainach 4mo ago
Plenty of value comes from things the customer doesn't care about.
Customers want features as fast and as cheap as possible. I derive joy from solid test suites that avoid me getting paged while on call and team processes that don't allow config changes on Friday so pages don't happen on the weekend.
Very few craftspeople derive their joy from the customer experience. An electrician isn't happy because their work allows me to watch TV. A carpenter isn't happy because a new set of stairs lets me get to the basement faster. They're happy because of their perception of the quality of their work. This goes away when the visible or fun parts are no longer "their work"
- suttontom 4mo agoI wouldn't agree with that. The issue with software is that the people you make things for are usually anonymous and you'll never meet them, but if you've ever built software that helped someone and you witnessed it, it feels really good.
- Arainach 4mo agoMeeting your customers feels good. It's still not why I do it. I've written components that were used by billions of people and generally loved (pieces of the Windows 7 taskbar) and talked to people about that work. I've worked in the education space and talked directly to the staff at schools who use my product to hear their use cases, thoughts, and feedback. It's fun, humbling, and rewarding. It's not what motivates me day to day.
- thedevilslawyer 4mo agohow are you navigating the AI wave? Those parts of the job are fully out, and the customer engagement/value are fully in.
- Arainach 4mo agoI don't agree with your statement. Individual productivity is very different from team productivity. AI is much like the traditional cowboy coder - prioritizing speed above all else leads to disaster. As to customers, customers value stability. They don't want the UI changing every week, they don't want random changes of the data model that corrupt their content, and so the traditions of quality, strong testing and integration pipelines, and so on are just as important in established products - in some ways more important than ever, as there are plenty of opportunities for your competitors to burn user trust and drive them away. I have yet to encounter an established product demonstrating a massive improvement in velocity due to AI. Being able to spit out prototypes doesn't matter all that much. I'm handling the AI wave by holding on to my sanity and skills and working to establish a reputation in preparation for big paychecks fixing the messes everyone else is creating with their tokens.
- thedevilslawyer 4mo agoI don't see any indication that's the world that's coming, and lot of opposing evidence. But perhaps it's a bet you're choosing :thumbs up: .