The primary thing I've learned from software engineering is never to trust anyone or anything
-
Show this thread
-
this does not need to be a "harsh truth", it's simply a truth that you need to take into account when reasoning about code or getting advice from other engineers
2 replies 1 retweet 19 likesShow this thread -
code does not do what it says on the label (the function name or the comments), it does not do what your colleague tells you it does, it does not do what you think it should do, it only does what it does
1 reply 1 retweet 37 likesShow this thread -
your colleagues, even principal engineers, don't necessarily know the full scope of your problem. they are extremely valuable resources, but they can't be trusted to give you a good solution
1 reply 0 retweets 13 likesShow this thread -
users also cannot be trusted- "it's been this way for 5 years and nobody has reported a bug" does not mean there isn't a bug. it doesn't even exclude very serious bugs, depending on the way information is presented to users
1 reply 2 retweets 15 likesShow this thread -
you can't trust yourself- I almost always go back to read code that I have written to confirm its behavior before answering questions about how something works, and have caught many misunderstandings this way
2 replies 1 retweet 22 likesShow this thread -
@othercriteria once mentioned that this is the primary transferrable skill of STEM grad work, which I very much agree with1 reply 1 retweet 13 likesShow this thread -
If I were to put on my
@QiaochuYuan hat, I might even say this is a common form of trauma induced by this line of work. I have issues with that framing but I think there is definitely space for consciously reorienting our relationship with trust in the face of a harsh environment1 reply 1 retweet 7 likesShow this thread -
(in addition to, of course, just making the fucking code work correctly)
1 reply 0 retweets 3 likesShow this thread -
The issue of trust has been increasingly stressful as I transition into a more senior role where I need to tell other people what to implement, but now my thoughts need to stand on their own, without a dialectical conversation with the materials
2 replies 0 retweets 10 likesShow this thread
Good thread, missed it first time round! Not quite there yet but this is def going to stress me out, hardly even know how to *have* thoughts without that conversation with the materials. (think I'm more context-dependent than most)
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.