3 ms·

In many companies: - saying "it's going to take me X months because of the technical debt" is not an acceptable answer to the manager; - working 15 hour days

by crdb 11y ago

In many companies: - saying "it's going to take me X months because of the technical debt" is not an acceptable answer to the manager; - working 15 hour days and taking X months more than the deadline is rewarded particularly if every diff is recorded in some kind of micromanagement tool used by the manager, for being "team spirit" even and especially with lower productivity. Since not everybody can hop jobs easily, a successful way to survive in such a situation CAN be to just pretend to work long hours, put in the face time, enthusiastically play along with the micromanagement game and hope the job market will improve before the company goes under or the department is disciplined for its lack of productivity, and before this situation takes too deep a toll on your intellectual ability and happiness. The key is continuous small, trackable deliverables, and focusing on additive changes rather than improving the existing codebase. It's important not to think about karma as such managers get promoted out of the way before their results catch up with them, and you'll just get more miserable as you watch them fly higher and higher on their column of hot air. /rant

zamalek 11y ago
> Since not everybody can hop jobs easily That's a reality I forgot about. Your advice is far better than mine is for someone just starting out.
- AnimalMuppet 11y ago
  No, it's not. The damage of burnout is real. It can damage peoples' physical health, and also their marriages/relationships. Then there's "faking". That damages your soul, your heart, your inner person. Have integrity. Don't fake. So, if he/she has to put in the insane hours to prevent being laid off, he/she should be job hunting for a sane situation, starting today.
vlladin 11y ago
I completely agree with this. I understand how you believe that by owning the code you must work extra hours and make things happen. First you have to take a detached look at things and understand how much of that is self pressure and how much is actually required from you (by the management). A manager's job is to push developers and "make things happen" faster, better and cheaper. They really only care about tangible results. Understand that it's their job, and it is never personal. I would suggest you take a step back, evaluate the expectations you REALLY have to meet and decide on two of these variables: Time, Quality and Cost. Usually there are really small things you can do that have a huge splash result-wise. Start by doing that, and it will give you more time to understand the codebase and plan/execute big changes in the future.

by crdb 11y ago

zamalek 11y ago

> Since not everybody can hop jobs easily That's a reality I forgot about. Your advice is far better than mine is for someone just starting out.

AnimalMuppet 11y ago
No, it's not. The damage of burnout is real. It can damage peoples' physical health, and also their marriages/relationships. Then there's "faking". That damages your soul, your heart, your inner person. Have integrity. Don't fake. So, if he/she has to put in the insane hours to prevent being laid off, he/she should be job hunting for a sane situation, starting today.

vlladin 11y ago

I completely agree with this. I understand how you believe that by owning the code you must work extra hours and make things happen. First you have to take a detached look at things and understand how much of that is self pressure and how much is actually required from you (by the management). A manager's job is to push developers and "make things happen" faster, better and cheaper. They really only care about tangible results. Understand that it's their job, and it is never personal. I would suggest you take a step back, evaluate the expectations you REALLY have to meet and decide on two of these variables: Time, Quality and Cost. Usually there are really small things you can do that have a huge splash result-wise. Start by doing that, and it will give you more time to understand the codebase and plan/execute big changes in the future.