A bit of bitterness (Off topic)
A bit of bitterness (Off topic)
This community seems to have several experienced developers from all around the world, and I would like to have opinions about this.
I'm an experienced developer, more than 15 years of professional activity mainly in programming (not counting the early ages with Amstrad, Atari, Amiga ...).
I've seen several environments and languages : Linux, Windows ; VB6, VB.NET, C#, Python, and now Delphi.
Would I advice anyone, with a passion in programming, to do my job ? the answer is of course :
NO
Why ? Because if you love programming, your skills will never been paid what they worth.
You want to earn money ? Become consultant, commercial, anything but : don't put your fingers in the code.
My impressions are : most of the companies hire young developers , hoping them to make shiny programs made like sh*t to give to their customers. No matter it's crappy inside : you must sell, quicklu, and after all, what's the duration of a software in time ? 2 years ? 3 years ?
When companies hire people experienced, they don't expect them to make more maintenable, documented , and well thinked programs : they just expect to have more sh*t produced by hour.... and this doesn't worth so much money more , isn't it ?
Excuse my non fluent english and my bad mood, but, in my 40th year of life, I'm full of .... questionning ....
This community seems to have several experienced developers from all around the world, and I would like to have opinions about this.
I'm an experienced developer, more than 15 years of professional activity mainly in programming (not counting the early ages with Amstrad, Atari, Amiga ...).
I've seen several environments and languages : Linux, Windows ; VB6, VB.NET, C#, Python, and now Delphi.
Would I advice anyone, with a passion in programming, to do my job ? the answer is of course :
NO
Why ? Because if you love programming, your skills will never been paid what they worth.
You want to earn money ? Become consultant, commercial, anything but : don't put your fingers in the code.
My impressions are : most of the companies hire young developers , hoping them to make shiny programs made like sh*t to give to their customers. No matter it's crappy inside : you must sell, quicklu, and after all, what's the duration of a software in time ? 2 years ? 3 years ?
When companies hire people experienced, they don't expect them to make more maintenable, documented , and well thinked programs : they just expect to have more sh*t produced by hour.... and this doesn't worth so much money more , isn't it ?
Excuse my non fluent english and my bad mood, but, in my 40th year of life, I'm full of .... questionning ....
Personally, I think we can change that.
ReplyDelete"Real" programmers should work for companies that value our craft.
I happen to work for one such company by the way :)
It's completely useless to be in a job you don't enjoy.
A
Welcome to programming for the "Enterprise" where software is required in the shortest timeframe possible but at the cheapest cost as well. Quality comes in at an unfortunate last place.
ReplyDeleteGood, cheap or fast. Pick two.
61 and still going strong(ish). You got to love what you do and do what you love!
ReplyDeletePaul Bennett This so much resonates with me!!! I want to be a programmer :) LOL
ReplyDeleteI know it sounds maybe silly, but I really can't stop - take out programming and you'll have me bad in matter of days!
I am also in the 40's age group; but I am very happy and well paid for my skills. I was a consultant for many years with "fingers in the code", everything from mainframes to handhelds, COBOL to NS Basic. Along the way I have created and maintained a custom software solution in Delphi since 1998. We still putting out updates and changes for an ever changing market, so the duration of software is what you make of it. 2 years ago the original customer (when I was a consultant) of this software made me an offer I could not refuse and I have been very happy ever since.
ReplyDeleteI'm 51 and still enjoy my job of programming :) The programming is going rapidly more complex and there is much more to learn to be on the cutting edge. IMHO
ReplyDeleteI'm not complaining about programming : I still love that ,and I'm trying , like Igor Schevchenko said , to stay as much as possible on the cutting edge.
ReplyDeleteI just feel like my experience ("I should do that because I know it's better") is in contradiction with the "market rules" ("Do that the faster you can.The rest , we don't care").
But perhaps it's just the sign that, now, I should better try to "fly with my own wings" and do my own business ..... or do a career change and send programming back to what it was for me in the 80's : just a hobbie .....
ReplyDeleteOlivier SCHWAB Often, starting a software development company or being a freelancer/consultant nets you pretty much what you had before, except without benefits and retirement funds. Sure, you get to set your hours and your rates, but you often end up working longer hours and your rate will max out at what the market will bear. Honestly, around here, people pay more for using a bookkeeper at an accounting firm ($120/hr) than they do a programmer.
ReplyDeleteIt's a long conversation with lots of variables, but the one thing I would suggest is that if you ever go into business for yourself, do NOT trade your time for money, sell a product or service instead. Your time is finite and will limit your income to time available X rate people are willing to pay. You're capped before you even start, and my observation is that rates have gone down over the years.
Thank for your piece of wisdom Kevin Powick ... I think what you said is perfectly true.
ReplyDelete