this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2023
311 points (95.9% liked)

Programmer Humor

32361 readers
854 users here now

Post funny things about programming here! (Or just rant about your favourite programming language.)

Rules:

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 
all 24 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 70 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Interview: write an optimized o log something reverse binary linked list quick sort to extract a cake recipe out of an object with an array list of football teams by hand and explain it like it's the only code you've been writing all your life

Job: meetings that could have been e-mails

[–] [email protected] -2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Interview: write an optimized o log something reverse binary linked list quick sort to extract a cake recipe out of an object with an array list of football teams by hand and explain it like it's the only code you've been writing all your life

No, because that's bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

It's the kind of bullshit that nets you top-tier pay. Unfortunately.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 10 months ago (1 children)

There are worse mistakes than accepting senior engineer: there’s management.
I’ll give you my IWW card when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I have no employees, but I'm a white collar worker in a "bullshit job". Would I be welome?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Yup! Basically everyone but employers, and cops, who are class traitors.

As long as you are a worker — not an employer — you can join the IWW. Members of other unions (except officers), students, retirees, the unemployed, the self-employed, those in informal professions, and those unable to work may also join.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I've been a senior engineer ever since I started my career.

The title means nothing.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

In my experience, getting one can be more about politics and fulfilling certain management checkboxes than about technical skill and experience.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

i got it right out of college.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago
[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago

Still better that pair programming in an open space office.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Yeah, you either work extra hours or you work during the meetings or both or you get de-skilled pretty quickly unless you work open source, second job or personal projects in the non-work hours. Otherwise, you can treat it like BS job but your skills will become BS and you will have to get better at lying and or potentially go into management with that level of experience. RN I'm unemployed and I'd gladly take any position, even if I'm qualified for senior, and I don't care if I have to work extra hours to keep up and this is coming from someone who has been actively organizing on the job at my last two tech jobs.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

There is another way. Push back. Decline meeting invites along with a note "Thanks for the invite but I don't think I'm needed at this one am I?" 90% of the time people don't even read your decline reason. Or just leave yourself tentative till the last minute unless you really believe you need to be there.

Far too many devs seem to think you can't decline meetings and yet spend their time descoping development work because we're too busy... When it comes to annual reviews / your next contracting gig, the guy / gal who got the work done is the door who's door is knocked on.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If you're a senior engineer, then you should have a team of juniors doing most of the coding. Your job is to architect, peer review, meet with stakeholders, etc.. At least that has been my experience. Unless you are on one of those small teams with all senior engineers and then you have to do all of the above, and the coding too. I've had that experience as well.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

If you're a senior engineer, then you should have a team of juniors doing most of the coding. Your job is to architect, peer review, meet with stakeholders, etc.. At least that has been my experience. Unless you are on one of those small teams with all senior engineers and then you have to do all of the above, and the coding too. I've had that experience as well.

small team with inexperienced new people that needed a lot of training and we also had "architect" positions and those guys I would never even see or talk to, they were in their own realm somewhere isolated from the actual work. what you are describing was more like the "principal" engineer and we had one of those and he was mostly only doing meetings and occasionally doing some work when the itch struck him sufficiently

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Getting paid to pay attention.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

More like getting paid to multitask. In most meetings it's fine to just say 'Sorry, I was distracted. Could you repeat the question?' We attend meetings because we are needed only 5% of the whole time, and working our own stories in the background is a norm.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Decline meetings. Tbh as a senior your time is more valuable to the company fixing hard problems and architecturing solutions than doing the job of a pm / po.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

As a designer who works closely with my boss, it actually works like this:

He does meetings 8 hours a day, 2hrs talking to me

I do site visits, design, meetings, solving problems, and 2 hrs a day of picking his brain so I can fit all of my shit into 10 hrs a day.

[–] HairHeel 6 points 10 months ago

Only 8? Those are rookie numbers

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

This is precisely why I don't actively seek promotions. Not only are there very few paths for someone to move up with my skill set, but if I do, I won't be doing what I enjoy doing anymore. I just want to find the medium where I can make enough to live off of and also just do my work most of the time.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago