The Software Quality and Productivity Crisis Executives Won’t Address Reflections From the Long View – 50 Years in Software Consulting Over my five decades in software consulting, IR…
I’ve burned out on software development and swore to never touch a piece of code again. It’s only 5 years since my MSc in ComSci which almost feels pointless by now. I felt like I was screaming into the void when I tried to fix the issues we were creating while we rushed for immovable deadlines dictated by higher ups and gut feelings ignoring the capabilities and competencies of the team. Even my hobby programming took a nose dive and has been sitting untouched for years. Dreams of creating innovative solutions for real problems crushed by the ever increasing weight of ignorance permeating my profession.
I quit my dev job end of December. I had enough. After my resignation I started looking into upskilling myself to project management (yes, my resignation was maybe a bit irrational with no plan) where I feel like I could actually make a difference and be listened to. But even that doesn’t seem like a done deal, so my plan A right now is consultancy work where I can recommend, be on to the next client and project in half a year, and never think about the fallout they’re causing because they didn’t listen to my expertise.
But then I read this article. I have no words for it. Without having decades of history to see what has been and what should be, only the last 5 years of fast track to developer hell, I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly was the problem. But every single word of this article speaks to me. It actually gave me the courage to go to my computer and work on a piece of software I have been putting off for 2 years. Like, right now. Maybe we can turn this shitshow around. Or for me it at least gave me enough motivation to put actual work into my startup idea.
I really hope we fix this shit because development and IT was my passion. Ever since I got my first PC it spoke to me. I understood it, it understood me. I really want to reignite that passion and feel the drive to be solve problems. I wish everyone who wants to move the needle good luck, we all need it.
Thanks for listening to my uncensored ramblings, this just hits very close to me.
That’s wonderful to read, that it caught and motivated you.
I suspect these systematic issues are much worse in bigger organizations. Smaller ones can be victims, try to pump out, or not care about quality too, but on smaller teams and hierarchies, you have much more impact. I suspect the chances of finding a good environment are higher in smaller companies. It worked for me, at least. Maybe I was just super lucky.
I’ve been a developer for thirty years. This is mostly nothing new. I’ve been ranting about the next quarter mentality since the early 00’s. Cool shit does get built, but it’s mostly hacky stuff that proves its value and then must be turned into the real product it pretended to be.
I’m much closer to the deliver management side of things (at least that’s what my timesheets say) and it’s still someone who has only thought about happy path stuff deciding and selling (Tia customer or to upper management) how long a project should take before there are even people to build it.
I’m ramping up a project now to replace an existing hacky React solution with a BFF/orchestration service with a Salesforce front end. It’s been scooped at 4 months since I was hired on 5 months ago. Wednesday we had a meeting to the effect that it was only scoped as a dumb proxy to rebuild the same janky solution in SF that we have in React. Except in none of the planning meetings did that ever come up. So I’ve been architecting an orchestration layer and the customer is only expecting to pay for dumb proxies. I wonder how this project is going to go…
That being said, I’m not hating the job. It’s always been this way. I’ve always had to fight with my managers to eek out decent products while working with my team on what can be compromised and removed from MPV in the how the customer will see the value and give it more phases of development to achieve the original vision. I even have a common refrain for my customers: “I want to make you happy. If my company can turn a profit from that, that’s between you and them.”
I’ve burned out on software development and swore to never touch a piece of code again. It’s only 5 years since my MSc in ComSci which almost feels pointless by now. I felt like I was screaming into the void when I tried to fix the issues we were creating while we rushed for immovable deadlines dictated by higher ups and gut feelings ignoring the capabilities and competencies of the team. Even my hobby programming took a nose dive and has been sitting untouched for years. Dreams of creating innovative solutions for real problems crushed by the ever increasing weight of ignorance permeating my profession.
I quit my dev job end of December. I had enough. After my resignation I started looking into upskilling myself to project management (yes, my resignation was maybe a bit irrational with no plan) where I feel like I could actually make a difference and be listened to. But even that doesn’t seem like a done deal, so my plan A right now is consultancy work where I can recommend, be on to the next client and project in half a year, and never think about the fallout they’re causing because they didn’t listen to my expertise.
But then I read this article. I have no words for it. Without having decades of history to see what has been and what should be, only the last 5 years of fast track to developer hell, I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly was the problem. But every single word of this article speaks to me. It actually gave me the courage to go to my computer and work on a piece of software I have been putting off for 2 years. Like, right now. Maybe we can turn this shitshow around. Or for me it at least gave me enough motivation to put actual work into my startup idea.
I really hope we fix this shit because development and IT was my passion. Ever since I got my first PC it spoke to me. I understood it, it understood me. I really want to reignite that passion and feel the drive to be solve problems. I wish everyone who wants to move the needle good luck, we all need it.
Thanks for listening to my uncensored ramblings, this just hits very close to me.
That’s wonderful to read, that it caught and motivated you.
I suspect these systematic issues are much worse in bigger organizations. Smaller ones can be victims, try to pump out, or not care about quality too, but on smaller teams and hierarchies, you have much more impact. I suspect the chances of finding a good environment are higher in smaller companies. It worked for me, at least. Maybe I was just super lucky.
I’ve been a developer for thirty years. This is mostly nothing new. I’ve been ranting about the next quarter mentality since the early 00’s. Cool shit does get built, but it’s mostly hacky stuff that proves its value and then must be turned into the real product it pretended to be.
I’m much closer to the deliver management side of things (at least that’s what my timesheets say) and it’s still someone who has only thought about happy path stuff deciding and selling (Tia customer or to upper management) how long a project should take before there are even people to build it.
I’m ramping up a project now to replace an existing hacky React solution with a BFF/orchestration service with a Salesforce front end. It’s been scooped at 4 months since I was hired on 5 months ago. Wednesday we had a meeting to the effect that it was only scoped as a dumb proxy to rebuild the same janky solution in SF that we have in React. Except in none of the planning meetings did that ever come up. So I’ve been architecting an orchestration layer and the customer is only expecting to pay for dumb proxies. I wonder how this project is going to go…
That being said, I’m not hating the job. It’s always been this way. I’ve always had to fight with my managers to eek out decent products while working with my team on what can be compromised and removed from MPV in the how the customer will see the value and give it more phases of development to achieve the original vision. I even have a common refrain for my customers: “I want to make you happy. If my company can turn a profit from that, that’s between you and them.”