Happy Halloween, everyone!
I think the question fits the theme, so I'd like to ask everyone:
What are your fears as a developer?
Here are the things I'm scared of (reasonable or not aside):
- not being able to find my next freelance client.
- production bugs.
- performance anxiety when showing interviewers and clients my work output.
- Imposter Syndrome (fear of being a fake or being too dumb)
that my Imposter Syndrome isn't even real, and that I actually suck.
running into a bug that has no StackOverflow, Github issues, and/or online solutions (which means I need to figure it out on my own).
posting a question online (especially on SO) where others might judge me.
the feeling of I'm not improving enough (lack of visible progress).
Almost forgot to add:
- not understanding what I'm reading
I'd like to know what you all are afraid of as fellow developers!
Note: I'm learning a lot from what everyone's sharing. Thank you, everyone!
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Top comments (69)
Developers/teams who choose technologies purely on whether they're popular, with no regard to the appropriateness to their project
Typescript cough cough
I stopped arguing with those people, and I just link them to this article.
React also
React?
As someone who really loves React, I got hit pretty hard by that! Haha. When would React be inappropriate for a project (assuming its still FE web development)?
Many, many places. Maybe not just React, but frameworks in general. I've lost count of the number of REALLY simple websites (Portfolio websites with next to zero interactivity, holding pages for upcoming projects, single page form websites, etc. - the list is long) that, for some bizarre reason, have been built using a framework. It literally makes no sense
(I personally loathe React, that's probably why I singled it out initially. I work with it on daily basis though, unfortunately 😞)
Oh, yeah! Vanilla Javascript/HTML/CSS would perform better than React for simple noninteractive webpages. It also has better SEO.
Vanilla JS would perform better than React for ALL websites. Frameworks become handy when the complexity of the site means that development using raw JS would start becoming a nightmare... in these cases, a framework would likely be easier to manage. It's a trade-off
Nothing is more scary then manually running a delete statement on a production database. 😳
Everyone, got that one story...
What? Like this?
delete databasePtr;?I think that is one common fear among many developers haha!
I resemble that remark... (shame of junior dev)
Nothing's quite as scary as bugs that seem to have fixed themselves without any human intervention.
Except maybe the idea that I / we might do something with our tech that ends up hurting people. :(
Oh, and user tests are terrifying every. single. time.
Logs. This is why you always keep plenty of debug info handy.
It really pays off to record the conditions of the program in-case a bug occurs.
Yeah I make sure to keep printing the stack trace all of the time especially when I'm still in the development process.
Debugger is also great!
Ah, I have encountered this multiple times and it is definitely scary when the code you're writing is for other people.
I didn't mind it as much when I was just doing personal projects.
PascalCase. For Everything!
C# is the best example!:
It drives me mad! There's no way to tell if
RandomIdentifieris a class, property, method, or constant (property) without seeing it being used, or going into the source code, and findingRandomIdentifier.Oh yeah, people that don't use the correct case for certain datatypes is annoying.
Like Constant variables should just be an easy uppercase, but people still are so lazy to do it.
It's not about laze, it's about people using outdated, or plain out wrong casing conventions.
And you'd think this is applicable to all languages with C-grammar. Nope. Apparently in C++ "uPpErCAsE is FoR mAcROs eVen ThOuGh ThEy'rE oUTdAtEd IN mOdErN cOde." - circa a person on r/CPP_Questions.
This sounds really mean, since they're just giving me advice.
But I still detest certain stylistic features. - And if people can't code in a style that's suitable for them, even if it looks alright, and isn't hurting anyone, then I get real steamed.
Sinking deeper and and deeper into a given problem asking all the while if there is in fact light at the end of the tunnel, egged on by solid estimation in the first instance, then hope then the sunk costs so far, and ever fearful that it may be ... a dead end.
Frustratingly poorly documented libraries that you pretty much, or totally have to reverse engineer while trying to utilise them
Spending a long time developing something only to find someone else did it better and faster and you can toss the fruits of your labor out the window and just use that.
Dealing with irascible hubris and poor interaction skills in other developers, not least gate keepers on repos or fora.
Forking frigging forking ... umpteen wasted effort solutions solving the same problem, meaning when you want that problem solved, you don't have two or three options (which would rock) but like 20 or 30 and your first job is endless pros/cons research before committing to a path.
3. happened to me not too long ago; then I did a benchmark and my code was x10 more performant sooo... not a complete waste of time, at least :D
I see! I've dealt with number 2 and 3 quite a few times before. 4 seems like it's very common in the corporate world.
I'm scared of one particular situation. It goes a little bit like...
Project manager: Hey. Do you remember that api you did for that presentation a few days?
Me: yeah... that thing that is totally still under development.
Project manager: That one. It's in production now. We need you to fix it.
Me: I'm sorry-- what now?
Yikes, who would push code that is still not tested and hasn't gone through quality assurance to production?
Then again looks at many companies
most of what you said and...
micromanagement, jerk coach/pm, doing all the work in team, bad company..
Bad leadership is the worst, I've worked with some of the best managers and the worst. The worst would do things like micromanagement, placing themselves as unnecessary dependency, trying to portray my desings as theirs, the list goes on and on :|
Software still is mostly about people. Bad People = Bad Software.
Yup, management that gets in the way of the development process is just the worst.
I mean no offense, but it seems like you've went through tough times. Those are also the reasons why I don't want to work for a corporate environment.
I gotta drop some dad-wisdom here, because I used to dwell on imposter syndrome. Look, I'd tell you gotta stop worrying about what other people think of you and focus on the trials ahead with confidence in yourself... but it took me some staring-in-the-mirror-after-eating-a-pot-brownie levels of introspection to realize why that advice doesn't help. I was pained to admit I wanted people to say that to me. My imposter syndrome was narcissism, undermined by insecurity or not. By publicly proclaiming my abilities were lower than they appeared, I would lower the expectations of others, prompting encouragement and protecting my image if I failed, while inflating the impact of my performance when I succeeded. Everyone experiences the undercurrent of an imposter occasionally, sometimes rightfully deserved and others not. Maybe you're not like this in real life, new to the field, or this is post is intended to be a bit humorous. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. If you do find yourself overtly focused on thoughts of imposter syndrome it's time to ask yourself why, without being afraid of some hard truths in the answer. I'd tell you you're a perfectly competent dev, but you already know you are. People have told you that a hundred times and you can see proof of it every time you sit down to work. Just relax, and enjoy the ride. Life is too short and precious to be dishonest with yourself. ;P
It's okay! both serious and humorous comments fit in this thread!
I do agree that a lot of developers (including myself) have a tendency to understate their competency to play it safe. It hurts more to disappoint someone, and it's just "easier" to impress someone by lowering their expectations.
However, understating your own competence can be bad because it can lead to being lowballed in negotiations.
Not an issue with every application, but I am terrified of revealing client PHI/PII.
As a freelancer, I'm also scared of this because of the legal consequences. I try my best to use cloud-based solutions for security of data to avoid the responsibility of doing it myself.
Oh for sure. I do the same thing. Delegate the scary stuff to my betters.
Writing some software for non-it coworkers only for them to not use it and instead ask me to do everything for them. This is very common where I work, mind you, so not at all far-fetched. You write a program, you have to take steps to not be the "operator" of your creation for the rest of eternity.
Yeah, got to teach people how to use the things you make for them. Sadly not many are willing to put in the effort to learn things and do it themselves.