jeff

joined 2 years ago
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[–] jeff@programming.dev 5 points 15 hours ago

Some experienced programmers forget how difficult computers and programming can be for beginners. It's obvious for us to look at the error and resolve it, but for most people it's pretty arcane. Relevant XKCD

Unfortunately, I think this is also a right of passage of some sorts. If you want to continue programming you will encounter a problem that you can't ask or find the answer on the internet and you will have to work through it yourself. I've had problems I've been stuck in for weeks or months. At least for me, it's always been such a high when I finally solve these. :)

[–] jeff@programming.dev 15 points 5 days ago (3 children)

When you say mid-six figures do you mean ~$150k or ~$500k?

[–] jeff@programming.dev 17 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

None of these are a cure. Clinical depression is a real thing and you should see a mental health professional. But here's my list.

  • Go outside and get some sun
  • Exercise
  • Drink water
  • Get enough sleep
  • Eat healthier
  • Form meaningful social connections
  • Reduce screen time
  • Only use your bedroom for sleeping(and sex), use different spaces for different activities
  • Journal
  • Write down 3 things that need to get done today, and then do it
  • (bonus edit) Meditate for 10 minutes

Most importantly. You don't have to do all of it. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. If all you can manage today is drinking a glass of water, then start there. This random Internet stranger believes in you.

Also drugs.

[–] jeff@programming.dev 23 points 1 week ago

My former career was in IT, I'm a developer now. I work with a bunch of tech savvy people, but I still have the 'IT Support Aura'. I've lost count of how many times a coworker has a computer problem, asks for help, and then watches me fix it and they claim they tried the exact same thing and it didn't work. I never really have an answer besides 'computers fear me'

[–] jeff@programming.dev 2 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

There's a big difference between winning a rigged election, and losing an election but staying in power anyway.

[–] jeff@programming.dev 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Look, I could point you to the blogs and patch notes for Chromium and Firefox and you could read into it and make your own conclusions from it.

From my perspective as a solution architect that has worked for several mid to large size organizations, is that security is difficult to measure and constantly changing. When I evaluate what software to use I do it on the basis of how they've historically addressed security concerns, and where the organization that develops the software priorities lies. My opinion is that when it comes to security, Mozilla and Google are about the same when it comes to Firefox and Chromium.

I haven't looked into Brave much, so I can't comment there besides it's another organization that you have to trust so it's inherently more risky.

[–] jeff@programming.dev 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (4 children)

The article you linked is over 3 years old at this point. You can't use that as the basis for your argument for software that's likely had hundreds of patches since the time that article was published.

[–] jeff@programming.dev 13 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

(me, an American) Well, forty isn't that many.

[–] jeff@programming.dev 21 points 2 months ago

You can install Windows on it and should be able to play those games.

They are obviously saying that their hardware is powerful enough to play all games; not that all games support their choice of OS.

[–] jeff@programming.dev 9 points 2 months ago

We're social animals with big brains. Other great apes, elephants, whales, even some birds like parrots and corvids mature slower.

We rely less on our instincts and more on what we learn from the previous generations, and that takes time.

[–] jeff@programming.dev 3 points 2 months ago

Well, I know how I'm starting and ending all my emails now

[–] jeff@programming.dev 3 points 2 months ago

There was actually a numberphile of this like 2 days ago. https://youtu.be/47qEMTMKRdA

 

*or other media; video, article, etc.

The Phoenix Project (and The Unicorn Project) by Gene Kim really opened my eyes up as an engineer and made me feel like I could start fixing the problems I was seeing on my team, on my project, and in my organization.

I started reading The Manager's Path by Camille Fournier and have really appreciated how straightforward and relevant it is.

Help me fill my Amazon cart!

1
What we really mean (programming.dev)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by jeff@programming.dev to c/programmer_humor@programming.dev
 

IMHO, it's a horrible hack that is just broken. It's obscure and we need to rewrite it because it has a bad structure. ^X^Cquit^[ESC][ESC]^C

 
 
 
 

My company started using Lattice software for tracking 1 on 1s, reviews, etc. I don't really love it, but it's nice to have something that the entire company is standardizing with.

I've been using Obsidian for my personal notes before I became a manager.

And I use the M$ Suite as needed with SharePoint.

Any other tools, software, processes, that you use for the people management side?

 

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/144418

I generally don't like "listicles", especially ones that try to make you feel bad by suggesting that you "need" these skills as a senior engineer.

However, I do find this list valuable because it serves as a self-reflection tool.

Here are some areas I am pretty weak in:

  • How to write a design doc, take feedback, and drive it to resolution, in a reasonable period of time
  • How to convince management that they need to invest in a non-trivial technical project
  • How to repeat yourself enough that people start to listen

Anything here resonate with y'all?

 
 

Posting some general questions to get this community going...

I recently moved from a software architect to an engineering manager position after I was asked by my company leadership a few months ago. Mixed feeling about the move. I really like technology and being deep into the code but I am also pretty good at being a manager.

Anyway, why did you make the jump? How has it been?

 

Hey everyone! I'm Jeff and just moved to from a tech role to a manager. Looking forward to this community.

 

I trialed GitHub Copilot and used ChatGPT for a bit, but recently I found myself using them less and less.

I've found them valuable when doing something new(at least to me), but for most of my day-to-day it seems to have lost it's luster.

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