Author: tradesmanhelix | Tradesmanhelix Blog

“Top” Workplaces

XYZ Company Voted Top 100 Workplaces For ABC City In 2019!

Hmm…I worked there for 2+ years and it really wasn’t that great – what gives?!

Working Remotely: Tips from a Veteran

I have a total of eight years experience as a remote worker. I began my remote working career as a life coach for a distance learning startup before pivoting into a career as a software engineer which I was able to take remote in 2017.

While I love working remotely, it’s not without its challenges. Given the current global crisis which has most of the world working remotely, I figured I’d take a minute to jot down my top thoughts on remote work in the hope that they can help and encourage others during this difficult time when many have had remote work thrust upon them with little preparation:

Optimism And Software Development

Business and salespeople are optimists. Well, perhaps that’s painting with too broad a brush. Maybe it’s safer to say that, at the very least, their jobs require some degree of optimism regarding the raw probability of things like a sale closing or a business venture succeeding.

On the other hand, programming is an inherently realist if not slightly pessimistic endeavor. Well, maybe that’s painting with too broad a brush again and it’s safer to say that it should be a realist if not slightly pessimistic endeavor. (If you’re skeptical, just spend some time working on a behind-schedule software project and you’ll very quickly get in touch with your realist/pessimistic side.)

Windows 10 Updates

Windows 10 updates are a lot like US elections – often unpredictable, seemingly never-ending, and a great reason to get into heated debates and sling mud at each other.

Hold my Linux while I go make some popcorn… 🍿

Netflix

A lot of companies (Apple, Disney, Warner Brothers, etc.) are planning on launching their own streaming service within the next 12-18 months to compete with Netflix. My guess is execs at these companies looked at the profit margins Netflix was getting on content belong to their companies, started seeing dollar signs, and figured, “Hey – we can do this and make boat loads of money for ourselves!”

However, in arriving at the conclusion that they should launch their own streaming service in order to achieve massive profitability, I think these companies missed the point regarding what made Netflix so popular in the first place.

JavaScript

The great thing about JavaScript is it’ll let you do just about anything you want.
The bad thing about JavaScript is it’ll let you do just about anything you want.

Look Ma – no semicolons!

Star Wars Code Review

var luke_skywalker – Very good. The true name of the parent class came as quite the surprise. However, the way this variable is used right before garbage collection is pretty inconsistent with its use throughout the rest of the program. Please revisit.

var princess_leia – Change. Too hard to spell.

var HanSolo – Please remain consistent with CamelCase or snake_case. Feels like this variable is a bit of a rebel…

const EP7_THE_FORCE_AWAKENS – I think this one is a duplicate. How’s it different from EP4_A_NEW_HOPE (see line 1977)?

Story Points

99 story points in the sprint, 99 story points.
Take one down and try to write some code,
103 story points in the sprint.

Consistently-accurate estimates are the holy grail of agile project management. Or maybe they’re the Kool-Aid…

Legacy Ruby Code

A programmer programmed in PHP. The code she wrote was legacy code as soon as her commits entered the git repo, and they provided gainful employment for many other programmers for years to come.

Another programmer programmed in Ruby. His code was also legacy code from its inception, yet his code prompted several developers to pivot to management careers and a complete application rewrite in Go.

Upon hearing of this, a wise programmer remarked:

How much better it is to work with Java written in PHP than Java written in Ruby!