I am a cloud application architect with 10 years' experience in software development in several languages, including Perl, Java and C#. I'm an Irishman living in Calgary, Canada. GitHub on @cubikca.
Location
Calgary, Canada
Education
BSc. Computing and Info Systems, Athabasca University
I think most of the bad jobs in the industry I've held have been bad because of legacy code. Interestingly, though, I think the code was the symptom and not the problem. It wasn't that there weren't good people, it's just that the problem was ignored until it was too late to fix it. Bad legacy code seems to be correlated to negative bosses, and my opinion is that it's the latter that's the root cause.
Certainly there's never enough time. This drives the work addiction, and here I don't think you can blame the bosses. It's up to a developer to find the self-discipline to have a decent work-life balance. Now, admittedly, here's an issue. IT is a 24/7 job. While developers don't often deal with this, stuff needs fixing on weekends and deploying outside business hours. I think part of the problem is that there are many people who have the expectation that you can just work 9-5 and ignore everything else. To an extent this is true, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect to work such hours in IT all the time.
You mention new technology stacks as popping up far too often, for there to be far too much learning. I tend to agree with you. Part of my role at work involves evaluating new technologies for use, and supporting developers in learning them. I try to be mindful of the workload I am putting on them, but the fact is that technology does advance, and we work in a field that needs to keep up. So, to address this, I'd suggest that dedicating people to research has a positive effect on the codebase, and certainly to the people doing the research. This can be a good promotion path.
Unhealthy competition is an interesting one. I think this is more a result of company culture than it is specific to IT. Plenty of areas in the company will see the same trend as skilled individuals compete for promotions and raises. To an extent, this is desirable. A company that tolerates, and even encourages, extreme competition will not be a good place to be. If you should ever be unlucky enough to find yourself there, run! This comes straight from the top, and it will destroy you. If you're at a good company with a bad co-worker, that's just a human resources issue.
I'd repeat your positive message that the best thing to improve your quality of life as a developer is to strategically take on responsibility. Try not learning that new technology stack that will not be used, and present design and process modernizations instead. Developers often pick things for the coolness factor, but bosses worry about stakeholders and business needs. Show the value of what you want to do, and you may find yourself doing it.
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I think most of the bad jobs in the industry I've held have been bad because of legacy code. Interestingly, though, I think the code was the symptom and not the problem. It wasn't that there weren't good people, it's just that the problem was ignored until it was too late to fix it. Bad legacy code seems to be correlated to negative bosses, and my opinion is that it's the latter that's the root cause.
Certainly there's never enough time. This drives the work addiction, and here I don't think you can blame the bosses. It's up to a developer to find the self-discipline to have a decent work-life balance. Now, admittedly, here's an issue. IT is a 24/7 job. While developers don't often deal with this, stuff needs fixing on weekends and deploying outside business hours. I think part of the problem is that there are many people who have the expectation that you can just work 9-5 and ignore everything else. To an extent this is true, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect to work such hours in IT all the time.
You mention new technology stacks as popping up far too often, for there to be far too much learning. I tend to agree with you. Part of my role at work involves evaluating new technologies for use, and supporting developers in learning them. I try to be mindful of the workload I am putting on them, but the fact is that technology does advance, and we work in a field that needs to keep up. So, to address this, I'd suggest that dedicating people to research has a positive effect on the codebase, and certainly to the people doing the research. This can be a good promotion path.
Unhealthy competition is an interesting one. I think this is more a result of company culture than it is specific to IT. Plenty of areas in the company will see the same trend as skilled individuals compete for promotions and raises. To an extent, this is desirable. A company that tolerates, and even encourages, extreme competition will not be a good place to be. If you should ever be unlucky enough to find yourself there, run! This comes straight from the top, and it will destroy you. If you're at a good company with a bad co-worker, that's just a human resources issue.
I'd repeat your positive message that the best thing to improve your quality of life as a developer is to strategically take on responsibility. Try not learning that new technology stack that will not be used, and present design and process modernizations instead. Developers often pick things for the coolness factor, but bosses worry about stakeholders and business needs. Show the value of what you want to do, and you may find yourself doing it.