3 ms·

You're missing one side of the equation. Some of those technical decisions matter a great deal. Some don't, but language and tooling choices affect careers. If

You're missing one side of the equation. Some of those technical decisions matter a great deal. Some don't, but language and tooling choices affect careers. If we (at hypothetical company X where I work at a given time) become a Spring/Hibernate/POJO/VibratorVisitorFactory hellhole, there is no place for me. Over time, that means that I don't have a job. So, damn right, I am personally invested in fighting that garbage before it gets in. Same when it comes to that trendy "Agile"/Scrum shitshow. Am I going to tell a front-end engineer with 15 years of exprience that he has to use PureScript because I, personally, think JavaScript is a poorly-designed language? No. That would be dogmatic. I generally prefer letting domain experts call the shots that affect them. It's about getting the right decision, regardless of whether it's my decision, and I may not have all the information. There are times to step back and let someone else call the shots, and there are times to stand your ground and fight. Make no mistake, though: promotions and demotions and firings result from these decisions and their long-term consequences, so getting them right really matters.

deleted 11y ago
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budu3 11y ago
>Same when it comes to that trendy "Agile"/Scrum shitshow Honest question. What alternative would you suggest?
- michaelochurch 11y ago
  What alternative would you suggest? Hiring adults and trusting them to get their work done.
  - icedchai 11y ago
    This is far too pragmatic. We all need babysitter "scrum masters" updating poorly written "user stories" and doing "bug grooming." Can we have a retro, please? Now it's time for planning poker! Are we still in junior high? I gotta laugh. Why do people put up with this bull?
    - michaelochurch 11y ago
      Are we still in junior high? I gotta laugh. Why do people put up with this bull? Because software engineers are terrible at managing their own social status, both individually and collectively. Social status determines how your work is evaluated, whether you are punished or rewarded for taking initiative and working on what you think is important, and how often you are held accountable for short-term results and visibility into your work. Manage your social status poorly, and you'll get daily status pings (the other meaning of "status"). Manage it well, and you can work on whatever you want with a low level of interruption. However, our industry is full of young, delusional people who haven't been burned (i.e. had difficult life experiences) yet and still believe in the corporate "meritocracy".
S4M 11y ago
> If we become a Spring/Hibernate/POJO/VibratorVisitorFactory hellhole, there is no place for me. Over time, that means that I don't have a job. So, damn right, I am personally invested in fighting that garbage before it gets in. Not saying that Spring/Hibernate/etc. are good, but since you haven't proven that they are bad, you sound like someone who is fighting over his interests first before the companies. An enterprise java programmer could give you the same argument, replacing "Spring/Hibernate/POJO/VibratorVisitorFactory" by "Haskell/Clojure/Functional Programming/Hipster stuff". Disclaimer: I myself prefer programming in a functional style and tend to despise (maybe due to ignorance) design patterns.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

budu3 11y ago

>Same when it comes to that trendy "Agile"/Scrum shitshow Honest question. What alternative would you suggest?

michaelochurch 11y ago
What alternative would you suggest? Hiring adults and trusting them to get their work done.
- icedchai 11y ago
  This is far too pragmatic. We all need babysitter "scrum masters" updating poorly written "user stories" and doing "bug grooming." Can we have a retro, please? Now it's time for planning poker! Are we still in junior high? I gotta laugh. Why do people put up with this bull?
  - michaelochurch 11y ago
    Are we still in junior high? I gotta laugh. Why do people put up with this bull? Because software engineers are terrible at managing their own social status, both individually and collectively. Social status determines how your work is evaluated, whether you are punished or rewarded for taking initiative and working on what you think is important, and how often you are held accountable for short-term results and visibility into your work. Manage your social status poorly, and you'll get daily status pings (the other meaning of "status"). Manage it well, and you can work on whatever you want with a low level of interruption. However, our industry is full of young, delusional people who haven't been burned (i.e. had difficult life experiences) yet and still believe in the corporate "meritocracy".

S4M 11y ago

> If we become a Spring/Hibernate/POJO/VibratorVisitorFactory hellhole, there is no place for me. Over time, that means that I don't have a job. So, damn right, I am personally invested in fighting that garbage before it gets in. Not saying that Spring/Hibernate/etc. are good, but since you haven't proven that they are bad, you sound like someone who is fighting over his interests first before the companies. An enterprise java programmer could give you the same argument, replacing "Spring/Hibernate/POJO/VibratorVisitorFactory" by "Haskell/Clojure/Functional Programming/Hipster stuff". Disclaimer: I myself prefer programming in a functional style and tend to despise (maybe due to ignorance) design patterns.