I’ve been a lone developer for most of my career, and had I known that programming would turn into a team sport, I might not have even become a programmer. I don’t think I’ve written confusing code, and rarely have I gone back to code I’ve written and not have it make sense to me, even years later. And the one time I did pair programming, it was painful and I don’t wish to do it ever again (I was a mere secretary, taking dictation and shut up! Keep typing!).
Do not worry, you are not alone. If it helps, I found it possible to work on solo projects in every company I ever worked for. And the more senior your are, the easier it is.
I’m being pulled more and more into team-sport-coding. There are days when I just want to lock myself into a room, focus on the problem, and write the code. Sometimes I just can’t deal with the meetings, the pairing sessions, the mentoring, the code reviews. I wish I had a gig as a lone programmer.
This sounds like a good idea, but I’m a bit intimidated by the whole process of finding customers and taking care of my own business. Moreover, in the country I live in, I should earn at least double my present income to live the same lifestyle as a consultant.
Yeah, finding customers can be difficult for introverts without a large network (I have the same problem). You could always frequent those freelancing job boards to get started and hopefully build up a clientele, but realise you’ll likely have to fight bottom-of-the-barrel “developers” on price.
I should earn at least double my present income to live the same lifestyle as a consultant.
Unless you’re raking in tons of cash at a big tech company, if you calculate what you make per hour, you should be able to (eventually) charge double that quite easily. Remember, your employer needs to charge the customer for your time, pay your wage, social securities/pension, rent, employee hardware and “overhead” (wages for managers, reception, cleaners, whatever other roles the company has that don’t work directly for the customer) and still make a profit.
The author argues that, in order to move fast and keep momentum, some kludges are acceptable. I agree, but at two conditions. First, the author of the kludge should be the same person that is going to pay the consequences for the technical debt that the kludge introduced. Second, programmers must be allowed to periodically jump off the release train to go back and clean up after them. I’ve seen too many projects becoming a kludge-infested hell to justify kludges for the sake of keeping momentum.
Yeah, one problem I’ve run into with my startup consulting clients is that is very difficult, especially for less experienced developers, to make good decisions about which kludges are good for forward momentum and which are going to bite them hard at the most inopportune time. “We have to cut corners, but not all corners are created equal”
I’ve been a lone developer for most of my career, and had I known that programming would turn into a team sport, I might not have even become a programmer. I don’t think I’ve written confusing code, and rarely have I gone back to code I’ve written and not have it make sense to me, even years later. And the one time I did pair programming, it was painful and I don’t wish to do it ever again (I was a mere secretary, taking dictation and shut up! Keep typing!).
Do not worry, you are not alone. If it helps, I found it possible to work on solo projects in every company I ever worked for. And the more senior your are, the easier it is.
I’m being pulled more and more into team-sport-coding. There are days when I just want to lock myself into a room, focus on the problem, and write the code. Sometimes I just can’t deal with the meetings, the pairing sessions, the mentoring, the code reviews. I wish I had a gig as a lone programmer.
Have you considered going into consulting/freelancing? Depending on the type of job you might be able to work alone on the code.
This sounds like a good idea, but I’m a bit intimidated by the whole process of finding customers and taking care of my own business. Moreover, in the country I live in, I should earn at least double my present income to live the same lifestyle as a consultant.
Yeah, finding customers can be difficult for introverts without a large network (I have the same problem). You could always frequent those freelancing job boards to get started and hopefully build up a clientele, but realise you’ll likely have to fight bottom-of-the-barrel “developers” on price.
Unless you’re raking in tons of cash at a big tech company, if you calculate what you make per hour, you should be able to (eventually) charge double that quite easily. Remember, your employer needs to charge the customer for your time, pay your wage, social securities/pension, rent, employee hardware and “overhead” (wages for managers, reception, cleaners, whatever other roles the company has that don’t work directly for the customer) and still make a profit.
The author argues that, in order to move fast and keep momentum, some kludges are acceptable. I agree, but at two conditions. First, the author of the kludge should be the same person that is going to pay the consequences for the technical debt that the kludge introduced. Second, programmers must be allowed to periodically jump off the release train to go back and clean up after them. I’ve seen too many projects becoming a kludge-infested hell to justify kludges for the sake of keeping momentum.
Yeah, one problem I’ve run into with my startup consulting clients is that is very difficult, especially for less experienced developers, to make good decisions about which kludges are good for forward momentum and which are going to bite them hard at the most inopportune time. “We have to cut corners, but not all corners are created equal”