Topic: Martha's Diary
A diary of Martha Russel with thoughtful insights and horrible experiences in IT.
Is It Easy to Transfer Experience?
Once again, one of my long-time customers started to build an internal team. It always sucks when it happens. I work for hire, but I work very hard to let people feel I am the best engineer out there. Come on, stick to me! You don’t need anyone else! In this case, the customer actually explained himself. He said he realized that he had become too much dependent on me. If I was not around, he felt helpless. His goal was to have reliable people in his local area. A good goal overall. But reliable people do not appear with a wave of a magic wand. Instead of reliable people, you usually get…
Biggest Problem With Having Knowledge
Imagine that you have spent a dozen years learning a certain area of expertise. You have read tons of books. You have discovered millions of paths within that area and mastered them all. You have participated in a variety of projects and made them successful. You have talked to hundreds of experts and adopted their experience. You have written and published the whole lot of articles. And you have got to the point where you are so enlightened that you have an answer to any question that might have been asked. You are a true professional ready to make the world better. Do you know what…
Can You Replace an Irreplaceable Developer?
When I talk to my customers, I often feel that their perception of their startup and software development is affected by invisible rules of Big Tech leaders. Everyone feels like a big headliner. Everyone expects huge success. Everyone believes in his or her personal wisdom and knowledge. Everyone thinks technology and AI are important. Nobody understands the importance of engineers who actually drive the ship. I have been a software architect for many years, but I don’t know what it means - to believe in technology. I don’t believe in technology. Technology is just a tool. Like a hammer…
A Betrayed Developer Will Not Return
I had a dream in which my place in life was taken by my double. By many doubles - at home, in the office, everywhere. People thought that these doubles were me. I tried to prove that I was better than these doubles in all aspects, but nobody seemed to understand the difference. These zombie doubles were better in one single aspect - pretending they were me. I failed at proving worthy. And then I woke up. Once I knew a sharp young lady working on a project. She was responsible for SEO. She had done really great work over the years - the website had many visitors with lots of conversions…
No Meaning - No Work!
I remember a story that happened when I was nine years old. I trained in gymnastics and did not do well. The coach invited my dad to talk about my productivity. Dad came in with the intention to raise the question, ‘How can we inspire Martha to do better at gymnastics?’ But all of a sudden, the coach turned the conversation another way. Why doesn’t Martha work as she should? Look at all the other girls. They all work hard. I don’t push them, I don’t fly above them - and they keep practicing their movements. Now look at Martha. She just stands there. She is lazy. She has two hands and…
Good Developers Are Hard to Find
Good software developers are hard to find. Why? Because good people in general are hard to find. A good friend is hard to find. A good stylist is hard to find. That principle applies everywhere. I am a happy person. I have found many good people that help me with my small problems - including a good luthier who restrings my Floyd Rose. But there are many people who struggle with finding one another. A good spouse is hard to find. Men and women have been looking for each other for a long time. Finding a mate has always been a huge problem for human beings. According to divorce…
Business People Cannot Tell a Good Developer From a Bad Developer
Business people cannot tell a good software developer from a bad software developer because they look the same from the outside. All developers have the same attributes. We have social profiles, portfolio records, a bunch of technologies we are supposed to be good at. We all have a picture in the profile. Some developers have a beard. I don’t have one, so I may look less experienced. It’s a wonder how different the impact made by different developers can be! Some of us help businesses to grow. Often, my customers start feeling so successful that they forget about problems technologies can…
Smart People Make Smart Mistakes
Smart people don't make silly mistakes. That is good. Smart people make smart mistakes that do not destroy their work immediately. Such mistakes have a softened impact and ruin everything later - with accumulated effect. A couple of weeks ago, a developer in my project submitted a pull request with a code that would override the delayed payment flow and charge the user's card instantly. The new code was clean. It did not break any old tests - they all were green. The old payment flow still existed with all its automated tests. However, the good old delayed payment procedure would start…
