Posted on 11/29/2016 5:32:51 AM PST by spintreebob
Edited on 11/29/2016 5:48:35 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
It really isn’t like it was in the COBOL days. Back then, the programs were not tasked to do all that many things. If there was a single bug, it had to be fixed. The way it works nowadays is that you get the bugs to an acceptable level. It actually seems to work, but I think that is because the bugs are in “seldom used” user paths.
I can tell you I’ve found plenty of bugs in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. It’s quite irritating.
“When I write a program, 50% of the code comes from me guessing what you want because you don’t know what you want.”
Yup. I’m a woman in the IT field. Originally RPG programmer turned system admin/enterprise-wide scheduler. The users really don’t understand much, that’s for sure. Often I’d spend weeks (or months) on a project to learn they “forgot” they needed this or that. Meaning? Starting from scratch and doing over again.
Or they purchased something from out of house and it didn’t come close to what the salesperson claimed....and did they include IT in the research for this new application? Course not! Even worse there were times this glorious new product wasn’t even compatible with our own system apps. Drove me crazy. In one case had to purchase middle-ware to get the thing to work and product the reports in the “pretty way” the users wanted to see them. Argh!
It’s too bad that far less than perfect is acceptable but I get it. I guess.
Agreed. So saccharine!
I've been in IT for 20 years. IT is brutal. It is logical. It doesn't care that you have feelings. When you sit down to troubleshoot a particularly difficult issue, you start at the bottom of the OSI stack and work your way up; it is plugged in?
Coding, I understand, is a different beast, but you HAVE to fail. I spent months troubleshooting a PowerShell script I wrote that worked for 90% of its intended purpose, but one stupid function wouldn't give me what I needed. It came down to a misspelled variable. I don't make that mistake anymore. I learned from my failure.
Coders seem to fall into one of two categories: "I don't care" or "I care so much." The "I don't care" coders puke out code and turn it in when it compiles and passes regression testing. The "I care so much" coders have a nervous breakdown when they submit their code and start to cry when they're criticized. As much as I despise the "I don't care" coders for their cavalier attitudes, I know I can go back to them to fix something without a maudlin display.
tl;dr
We had repeated design meetings and they never said a word.
I just hate moving back and forth between screens when you can go back and forth between pages so much easier
This this this.
President Elect Trump should propose the following challenge to Silicon Valley companies
Build code schools in the rust belt and teach those who have lost jobs how to code. In fact pay them to learn and you will get tax credits.
For everyone of those coders you teach and hire, you will get another tax credit.
Considering the absurd cost of developers, or hell even marketers in the valley, late stage startups about to go public or be sold would jump on this chance to reduce costs and make the books look better. America would get a boost from fresh coders/developers/analysts/product managers
We still have COBOL and C (not C++) programs that have to be modded. There is still a lot of COBOL out there and they are writing more.
My last job was converting a Client-Server system back to COBOL/CICS/IDMS due to performance issues.
Every programmer in India is required to learn COBOL.
When I was a COBOL programmer, I found I was most effective using fan fold paper and also having the program up on screen to use the search function. My time was a lot more expensive to the company than a 2 inch stack of paper.
HR: "We want a website."
Me: "OK, I can work on getting one stood up. What do you want on it?"
HR: "Oh, this, and that. And some of the other thing. I dunno, why don't you put it together and we'll look at it?"
Me: "Well, I'm in IT, not HR. I'll be glad to provide a platform for you to work on, and show you how to use it, but the content needs to be made by you guys."
HR: "WHAT? We're going to need to work on this?"
Me: "yup. And, you need to keep it fresh. Putting out a brief "Letter from the CEO" once a year isn't going to cut it."
HR: "Content? What that? It's not something you do??"
Me: "Nope. Well, I'll be glad to give you a "What's new in IT" article once a quarter, or something. But you all will need to generate stories, or find people in the company to generate them. Then, you can upload them to the website. People like to see pictures of themselves. And read about awesome work they've done. You better get snapping!"
HR: "......."
I didn't make any friends in that meeting.
It’s too bad that far less than perfect is acceptable but I get it. I guess.
It’s all about cost vs benefit.
“Originally RPG programmer”
I’ll add you to the prayer list.
Much of what we do now is interface systems.
What people fail to realize is that 99% of all computer programmers are not engineers. They have little, if any, math or scientific training. They only code until something appears to work; not that it works well, it just gives the right answer sometimes, at least on their box.
Few programmers even know how a computer works. They have no formal education, they just taught themselves a computer programming language, something any 12 year old can do.
What’s worse: 99% of all managers of those computer programmers have no computer programming experience. They have things like a PMP or an MBA or just look good in a skirt (no exaggeration).
“This is a dumb essay and this woman is not a computer scientist—end of story.”
Agreed. Been at my current company 12 years. To date the only woman on my team (3 different teams). I’ve learned the fewer words when dealing with men, the better. Often “yes”, “no”, “will do my best” will suffice for them :)
Also, try NOT to use the phrases “I think” or “I/me” at all. Using “the solution could be”, or “upon research, the finding are....”. They don’t care what I “think” so much as what was found and what is known or unknown.
She should read Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance.
I meant: I have read Zena And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
That book was very well written compared the article which we are discussing. This article reads as essentially a “pile of words” a spewing of stream of consciousness that seems to have little point, other than to communicate an emotional distress.
There. That is what I was trying to say!
Saw a good book on the shelf.the.other day:
“F*ck Feelings”.
That sums up every female (and most of the men) I've ever worked for.
Coding is more than teaching a single skill....the base education must be there.....
It’s not like teaching welding.....
Most of the adults that would need re-training in the rust belt would require several years of training to be an effective programmer.....
Better to bring manufacturing and their jobs back to help them.....
meh
It’s software. I loved the hardware I developed and built
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