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The Human Dimension of Software Engineering

The Human Dimension of Software Engineering

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A Programmer Burnout Story; How to Recognize it And Avoid it

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Reading Time: 8 minutes

I am very interested in psychology, but I am not a psychologist. I do not have any specific or tangential formal education on the phenomenon of burnout. My experience with it is from the trenches. I have been in some nasty ones, knee deep in the mud, grasping for something solid to avoid going down and drowning. I have observed software developers burnout, and I know how bad it can get.

I got close to get burnout myself a couple of times but managed to avoid it by doing research on the topic and taking decisive actions. I have seen friends and co-workers fall deep into it, and struggle to get out of its hideous embrace. I have also helped some of them to get out of it. ... 

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7 Strategies to Avoid Software Growth Zero, AKA Drowning in Maintenance

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Reading Time: 8 minutes

The Software Garden

Software is like a garden. Both software and gardens require a lot of work, craftsmanship, and artistry to envision and create, especially when starting from scratch. They both evolve, and they both need constant maintenance, even if you don’t make any significant improvement.

If you are a reader of my blog, you know that I use a character called Bolbo as my mental framework for the quintessentialsoftware developer. You might remember that he has a square jaw, messy black hair, round glasses, a cynical sense of humor and a snarky attitude. I wrote about him in “A day in the life of a software engineer.” In this post, I will talk to you about Bolbo’s brother Polbo, who is a gardener. I will tell you about his journey in the creation of a formal garden. ... 

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Best Strategies To Invest Your Engineering Time Wisely

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Reading Time: 12 minutes

When I started coding in 1984, there weren’t many choices of languages and technologies. Basic, C and Pascal were the main ones. Only a few books on the topic were available, and the internet didn’t exist. With such a limited choice, it wasn’t difficult to decide how to spend my learning time to become a software developer. Distractions were not a problem, and networking wasn’t much of an option either.

Over the years things changed dramatically. Today you have an incredible array of options and information to choose from. Deciding where to spend your time can be daunting. Should you become a generalist, and know a little bit of everything? Or a specialist, and know one thing well? Also, should you learn to write code at all? Are you trying to start a business, or are you trying to learn to code? What are your goals? ... 

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Trust your instincts, question your fears

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This entry is part 7 of 8 in the series principles

Reading Time: 3 minutes

I hate when a fine Friday morning turns into an unscheduled damage control drill. It was around January or February last year; it was cold outside but turned hot inside. I know it was a Friday because it ruined my weekend. I was in a meeting when the discussion between usually calm people raised the temperature of the room by 10 degrees. It was emotional and driven by more than the words in the conversation.

What do you mean “there is no debugger”?

As an engineer, I am used to studying code behaviors by tracing execution steps with a debugger and by watching the content of variables. I can force values into those variables at run-time, and see what happens. Behavior drives data, data drives observations, and observations drive deductions and conclusions on behaviors. ... 

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Every question is a good question

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This entry is part 4 of 8 in the series principles

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Let’s play make-believe. You are in a meeting with several people; each of them is an expert in different facets of the topic. The discussion is strategically important, stakes are high, but you realize that some aspects of what is being said are unclear to you. A lingering feeling enters your thoughts; you wonder if you are the only one, or if everyone is puzzled by the same thing, and they are just not saying anything. You look around, and everyone seems to be immersed in the discussion. Fear that you might be the only one not understanding creeps in. ... 

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