bethcodes.bsky.social
Sr Staff Engineer supporting agile cultures that let developers build software well & help them learn how to.
Mediating a new scientific revolution associated with the night dream of post-industrial society
ze/hir/hirs
1,287 posts
1,418 followers
618 following
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It is possible to have reactions without posting them on the internet.
It is fine to feel the feelings, but as soon as we are participating in the backlash against a Black woman standing up for trans people we are just participating in the backlash to a Black woman standing up for trans people.
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By “more than just what they deliver”, I mean things like “communicating to executives & translating back”, “building process”, “coaching folks across roles”, “crafting engineering cultures”, and other things besides writing software
For writing software, Sr/Lead is the terminal role.
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Those are also different jobs, taking responsibility for more than just the software one personally delivers.
I find that misunderstanding often frustrates senior engineers who don’t understand that “Staff” isn’t just a promotion: it is a different job they would start doing to get the title.
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Now I understand what the disconnect is. I agree that we don’t see people over 50 systematically paid more than a younger person for doing the same job.
I disagree that that is unfair, but I agree that we don’t see that.
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I would bet it is worth making them actually do that work, and then throwing a fit about how they are disrespecting the traditions of the Republic.
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What role is there “beyond” Lead that isn’t something architect-y, at any age?
Maybe this is my time in other professions coming through, but I’m confused by the idea that a trade would have an endless career ladder. If we want to keep doing the same job, why wouldn’t it be the same job?
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If you have a reference, I’d be interested in reading more.
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Leverage Research was ahead of its time
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I can believe people looking to make more money move into other roles, but I am less convinced that it is the norm. The median age of a computer programmer in America is 43, compared to 42.2 for all workers.
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Is it? The last time I looked men didn’t leave software engineering at higher rates as they aged than other professions.
Which isn’t to discount the alienation of moving from “most folks are older” to “most folks are younger”. But the meme that older developers are invisible is odd to me.
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Like a bug-a-thon: we choose some priority and the entire team focuses on that, without worrying about planning, pointing, relative prioritization or other process overhead.
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Huh.
The profession grew fast during the cell phone revolution, which brought younger people in, but I’ve worked with my grandfather’s coworkers. At my first tech job I was less than half the average age.
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IMO a huge part of the problem is that open-office floor plans are *so* sub-optimal for everything except real estate costs.
There are offices I would go back to (if I wasn’t bringing extra skills to remote teams), but it isn’t most of the offices currently available.
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Part of why I have stuck with remote work is *because* it is a different challenge and requires different skills.
Having built some of those skills (largely by accident), I can be of greater use in a remote workplace.
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I have seen the best results when there are at least three ways people connect with coworkers on a weekly basis:
* With people working on the same goal
* With people doing the same kind of work
* Something random enough to enable happy coincidences
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I found that my experience building World of Warcraft guilds, online communities and distributed event teams translated, but also without that (unpaid) experience I would have had no support at all.
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I find it makes Staff+ roles particularly impactful. Those folks can have the energy, focus & autonomy to be proactive about building relationships, reading what is written & actively facilitating cross-team culture.
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I don’t think we need to rely on model-based claims the empirical evidence doesn’t support.
We could directly value medical residents & their well-being. They are also people whose health matters.
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Which research were you looking at? My statement was informed by metastudies like www.acpjournals.org/doi/full/10.... and meridian.allenpress.com/jgme/article...
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Part of the challenge is that while it is bad for doctors, it isn’t bad for patients. And the profession, admirably, cares more about the second than the first.
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I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing.
We are asking people to ignore their personal interests in favor of the patient’s interests. Ordeal rituals are one of the few effective tools we have for build a shared professional identity capable of resisting individualistic pressures.
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Interestingly, EHRs weren’t found to have a systematic positive impact on patient health, though they reduce medication errors & time spent documenting. Reading is still reading.
On the other hand, increasing the overlap between shifts is effective but expensive: medicine.tums.ac.ir/uploads/296/...
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There is an interesting question of what the best EHR would be. It likely varies by hospital/specialty (while still being perfectly interoperable).
Building software well is expensive. Trying for “best” would raise healthcare costs further, so mostly we aspire to “good enough”.
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It’s telling how none of their “controversial” opinions are ones that challenge systems of power, like “prohibition dramatically reduced alcohol consumption & domestic violence” or “lead exposure impairs self-control” or “therapy is useful”
It’s all just “what if Republicans’ desires were correct?”
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That just sounds like an estimation problem 😉
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I feel like it is a tacit assertion that the only way to appeal to young men is with misogyny. Which I don’t think is true.
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Be gay, do semantic crimes
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The “they” in question here is a group of Republicans, so they are obsessed with pulling Democrats to the right to match their policy preferences.
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There is useful work they can do!
They can start by sharing all the emails they have exchanged with their compatriots over the years that will make good ads, and then they are welcome to vote, donate, knock on doors, make phone calls or bring snacks (up to the legal contribution limits, of course.)
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What I want to know is, why is anyone quoting Rahm Emanuel on winning elections?
If he were competent we wouldn’t have lost the House in 2010, and we wouldn’t know about the murder he covered up.
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They also keep ignoring that we have tried that, repeatedly.
We could use politicians who are perceived to be moderate, but we can’t have that without the collapse of Fox News. They called John Kerry a radical.
So we had better come up with an alternative.
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A “bribe” might require that. “Corruption” does not.
“Corruption” is not a single, specific crime: it is a category of crimes that all involve abusing an official position for personal profit. Violating Article 1 Section 9 of the Constitution should certainly qualify.
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Find one friend and do things together.
It is much easier for “us” to be brave than “me” to be brave.
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I use PRs even on solo projects for that reason
I’m pretty good at code reviews: why wouldn’t I give myself one as a treat? 😂
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If someone had tried something, I’d have gotten a viral video out of it & even more people would know the Tri-Town Pride Parade is June 1st in Topsfield.
But being terrible takes effort, especially when we raise the bar for them. Most days, people just don’t bother.