Always leave the code better than you found it

Re:Always leave the code better than you found it by wufufufu on Saturday November 28, 2020 @09:56AM (#25237877)

I applaud this, but I also advise against this for your career. Unless the change you're making has immediate and significant business benefits, from a PM/EM perspective you're 1) wasting time 2) potentially introducing bugs

The correct move is to wait until the org is so bogged down with tech debt that meaningful progress cannot be made, then switch companies/teams.

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Re:Always leave the code better than you found it by tuwtuwtuwtuw on Saturday November 28, 2020 @10:00AM (#25237905)

Just to be clear, this is a joke right?

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Re:Always leave the code better than you found it by burade on Saturday November 28, 2020 @10:10AM (#25237965)

It will only be joke once our profession unionizes. Until then, nope, not a joke. It's actually very good career advice.

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Re:Always leave the code better than you found it by tuwtuwtuwtuw on Saturday November 28, 2020 @11:55AM (#25238671)

I'm in a union but actually not sure how that is relevant. I'm in Sweden, maybe things are different.

I have never worked with a PM who hasn't understood the concept of technical debt though. It sounds like a bad career move to work with such a person. Ignoring technical debt until development slows down to a crawl is a good idea? I don't buy it. My advice would be to either try to fix the issue (both the PM and the technical debt) immediately or find a new job.

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Re:Always leave the code better than you found it by Viliam1234 on Saturday November 28, 2020 @07:25PM (#25241817)

In my experience, managers do understand the concept of technical debt, in theory. They just don't think we should be actually addressing it right now, because something else is more urgent. And there is always something more urgent.

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Re:Always leave the code better than you found it by hinkley on Saturday November 28, 2020 @12:00PM (#25238703)

That was the thing with XP and refactoring and a handful of other techniques. It was a form of unionizing. Solidarity goes a long way toward changing norms. If I can’t just ask another developer until I get the answer I want, then it’s either fire everyone or accept that This is How We Do Things.

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Re:Always leave the code better than you found it by wufufufu on Saturday November 28, 2020 @10:09AM (#25237960)

I didn't intend it as a joke. Maybe at a developer-friendly company it could be viewed as a joke.

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Re:Always leave the code better than you found it by mzakharo1 on Saturday November 28, 2020 @11:58AM (#25238691)

People who think like this should be fired on the spot.

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Re:Always leave the code better than you found it by notacoward on Saturday November 28, 2020 @06:12PM (#25241381)

That would be >50% of the developers at all FAANG companies, >80% at Facebook.

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Re:Always leave the code better than you found it by mooreds on Saturday November 28, 2020 @08:48PM (#25242266)

Oof, harsh assessment of our industry.

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