Re:Ask HN: Should we bring software dev in-house?
by carlmr on Friday August 09, 2024 @04:11AM
(#41199793)
For the technical side, this is a part of what a good software engineering team should be teasing out from the verbal requirements. Check if the intermediate PDF is needed, if it is, it still shouldn't be part of the automation path, but instead serialize/send the data properly and output the PDF on the side.
It could be due to many different reasons. One the personal spectrum, they can overvalue themselves or have fear of loosing their jobs.
On the technical spectrum, they can be stuck in old tracks without computer knowledge and not thinking outside of the box. For example, in their eyes the objective is to move PDF file from directory A to directory B. In the ideal automated world, why is there a PDF in the first place? Basically "if you asked what they wanted they would have said faster horses...".