Related to factors around an employer's place of business. May involve cubicles, co-workers or bosses often.
40
votes
7answers
1k views
Solo developer vs. team developer : should I move on? [closed]
I work as a solo developer in a small company. There's more than enough work, but the same does not apply for money. Thus, I won't be seeing any new colleagues in the near future.
I am responsible ...
2
votes
7answers
683 views
Should I “Fight” to use development environment I want to use and how?
I am the only developer for some of projects.
I used to pick environment I like, alike C# and C++.
But this time new task could come from another department head who used to write programs ~20 years ...
-3
votes
0answers
66 views
trackpoint vs mouse vs touchpad, what is more healthy? [closed]
I started using trackpoint on my new laptop about 3 months ago. Lately, I sometimes feel pain in my fingers(pointing finger and middle finger) and wrist. I am on computer for like 10 hours daily, so ...
1
vote
6answers
505 views
Working in a company that does not comment their code at all? [duplicate]
I work for a small software development house (10~ developers, a few product managers and a few support staff) that sells various products and services to organisations internationally through ...
-7
votes
1answer
113 views
Hallway usability testing and quiet working environment together
How can one achieve both the 8th and 12th point, i.e.
Do programmers have quiet working conditions?
and
Do you do hallway usability testing?
mentioned in The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better ...
4
votes
4answers
309 views
Does following Agile methodology contradict programmers should have quiet working conditions (one of the Joel test)?
My organization is moving to Agile process of software development. As part of it, the developers and quality engineers will sit together with the cubicle walls scaled down.
I am just wondering how ...
2
votes
1answer
215 views
Moving forward in the programming world
I have been placed in a recent position where my job title does not adequately represent what my current duties entail. I am worried that this classification will affect me later in my career as the ...
8
votes
2answers
227 views
How do I Integrate a Former Team Member into the Current Team
Is it possible to re-integrate a former team member into a software project?
We have a product with a looming customer deadline and we don't have enough hours to get it done! We have a former ...
7
votes
5answers
807 views
Using industrial earmuffs while programming to filter out talking [closed]
Unfortunately I have to work in a room full of talking colleagues. In order to concentrate, I wear headphones with music on at top volume, but this makes me sick at the end of the day. I would prefer ...
6
votes
5answers
497 views
How to deal with management staff (company owner) that downplays the impact of specs changes?
I work in a small web development company (3 programmers) for a while. During the last year the company had hard times (less projects) and a few co-workers were fired, including our Production ...
9
votes
4answers
573 views
Will working in IT limit your career prospects as a programmer? [duplicate]
I took a job working as an IT guy (SQL programming, helpdesk, etc.) because I had need of a job (to pay back student loans accumulated from school).
I'm very happy to have a job, but I eventually ...
1
vote
2answers
265 views
Is it common to spend your first few weeks at a new job trying to fix your designated workstation? [duplicate]
I recently graduated from college and landed my first development job employed as a Junior Java Developer to develop a web application with Java, JBoss, Struts/Spring.
I love coding and feel happiest ...
10
votes
3answers
931 views
“Too object-oriented”
I come from a strong OO background, and I have recently started working in an organization which, although the code is written in Java, has a lot less emphasis on good OO design than what I am used ...
10
votes
1answer
746 views
How often is an average programmer expected to reach flow?
I have recently been reading about flow and, since I have experienced this state a few times, I wondered how often an average programmer is able to work in this very focused and balanced way.
Do you ...
2
votes
5answers
394 views
Unit test cases(JUnit), not by developer but other team members
I have a very interesting situation. Management has strictly asked to do unit testing for the code being developed and divided the task in such a way that few are developing the code and others are ...
0
votes
4answers
96 views
Accomodating back problem while programming [closed]
I had an accident while working as a student some ten years ago. This resulted in a discal hernia in lumbar area - for those in the know, L4-L5. I'm going to a physio and know where the problems lie.
...
8
votes
4answers
504 views
Aspergers Programmer and Learning Difficulties. Best way to overcome them? [closed]
I have Aspergers Syndrome, and a effect of Aspergers for me is that I can find it difficult to understand concepts from reading material unless I have some idea or mental visualization about what it ...
-2
votes
1answer
171 views
Does programming in front of a table top projector screen work? [closed]
When I travel, I really like to have a 20"+ monitor with me but that's a bit convoluted to travel with. I could get a full HD projector and a table top projector screen (I am looking at a 24" x 18" ...
36
votes
11answers
2k views
How do I prove to management that our programmers could work more productively?
Backstory
I graduated less than a year ago with a degree in Computer Science (with extra courses in software engineering), and another degree in Software Engineering. I'd like to think that I'm ...
3
votes
2answers
174 views
What is Development Environment? e.g. Vagrant
By luck i landed on this website http://www.vagrantup.com/
It is says, that software is for development environment.
My question is what exactly definition for development environment (in this case ...
0
votes
1answer
120 views
How can I work with my partner from far away? [closed]
I'm currently having a newly started app company with a friend of mine. He's quite good at programming, and if I had to put him up against my own level, I'd say he would be right below it.
Right now ...
3
votes
2answers
103 views
Peer programming and experience sharing
There was a mention in the Java Posse Podcast about how teams should be divided up into pairs. However, there was a mention from the lady on the podcast that: "Pairs should be mixed up [sic]" (an ...
2
votes
4answers
312 views
What is a job in programming really like? [closed]
More specifically: Is a job in programming really as bad as it sounds?
I'm still in high school, but I love programming. I take all of the programming classes that my school offers (which are ...
1
vote
1answer
209 views
Justify moving beyond IE7
I work within a closed environment that defines supported browsers organization-wide. Put another way: you can't use it unless it's an approved install.
Given that (soon-to-be-formerly) Twitter ...
0
votes
3answers
339 views
Developers taking code home - how bad is it? [duplicate]
I have an idea that if I have programmers under me that it would be better if the company give each of them a [good] laptop on which they can develop conveniently and allow them to take their machine ...
1
vote
0answers
402 views
Is it reasonable to expect all the items on the “Programmers Bill of Rights”? [closed]
Jeff Atwood posted back in 2006 an article entitled "Programmers Bill of Rights".
To summarize:
Every programmer shall have two monitors
Every programmer shall have a fast PC
Every programmer shall ...
64
votes
13answers
6k views
My boss has a bad case of “Not Invented Here”
My department specializes in converting customer data into our database schema so that they can use our software.
Right now, we have C# applications that take an IDataReader (99% of the time it is a ...
1
vote
2answers
236 views
Remote pair programming set up over a VM
We are looking for a new way of doing pair programming. It's looks like best way of programming, it is faster and you push out great tested code. But there are some downsides.
Ad hoc items that pop ...
12
votes
3answers
785 views
Handle complexity in large software projects
I am a lead developer in a larger software projects.
From time to time its getting hard to handle the complexity within this project. E. g.
Have the whole big picture in mind all the time
Keeping ...
5
votes
6answers
943 views
How can I create a solid business case for upgrading our programmers to 256 GB SSD and 16 GB of RAM? [duplicate]
We have an environment based on Microsoft stack (VS2010, SQL Server, etc), and I firmly believe that we could improve productivity a little bit, having more RAM and a faster secondary SSD.
What data ...
8
votes
5answers
960 views
Software Manager who makes developers do Project Management
I'm a software developer working in an embedded systems company.
We have a Project Manager, who takes care of the overall project schedule (including electrical, quality, software and manufacturing) ...
70
votes
23answers
5k views
How do developers find the time to stay on top of latest technologies? [closed]
I was a freelance web developer until circa 2004 when I started going down the management route but have decided to try to get back into development again (specifically JavaScript and HTML5 web/mobile ...
19
votes
4answers
686 views
More productive alone than in a team? [closed]
If I work alone, I used to be superproductive, if I want to be. Running prototypes within a day, something that you can deploy and use within a few days. Not perfect, but good enough. I also had this ...
2
votes
2answers
183 views
How do I tell my boss he made the wrong choice? [closed]
Recently, our biggest product failed majorly because we'd only used outsourced labor to do it, and they never tested anything, etc.
Finally, our CEO decided that the US team should learn the code and ...
21
votes
7answers
1k views
What do you do with coder's block? [closed]
Lately it has been a bit rough. I basically know all the things I need and all the avenues to get there for work. There's been no real issue of a problem with too high complexity, and performance is ...
12
votes
3answers
529 views
How can we unify business goals and technical goals?
Some background
I work at a small startup: 4 devs, 1 designer, and 2 non-technical co-founders, one who provides funding, and the other who handles day-to-day management and sales. Our company ...
3
votes
2answers
240 views
What to do when projects are slow and you are being held up by others? [closed]
Where I work, projects take a significant amount of time because the teams are large, there is a lot of "design and analysis", a lot of documentation, and work always gets pushed off. I work in the ...
5
votes
6answers
396 views
Common for programmer to be asked to maintain code in a different language? [closed]
I was hired ~1 year ago to write Java code (actually, to re-write a legacy codebase - I suspect the company would be happy no matter what language I was writing it in).
Just yesterday I was tasked ...
3
votes
1answer
637 views
What to do when the lead programmer is doing almost zero work? [closed]
I am currently working on a project with a small dev team. The problem is that the lead programmer is "working remotely", and does virtually no work. We have missed every deadline, and at this rate we ...
6
votes
3answers
273 views
How much attention I can expect from an open source community as a newcomer?
Some days ago I started working in an open source project. The project was from a famous organization and they have many projects, but unfortunately I found that no one is actively working in the ...
5
votes
8answers
824 views
Bringing your own computer to work [closed]
I recently joined a startup, and we've been growing quickly over the last year. However, I've noticed that out of all the new hires (mostly sales and support) they are bringing in their own laptops to ...
68
votes
15answers
5k views
How to motivate co-workers to write unit-tests?
We're working on a large product which has been in production for about 5 years. The codebase is.. erm.. working. Not really well but it is working. New features are thrown into production and tested ...
19
votes
5answers
1k views
How do you disarm a cowboy coder? [closed]
I found a question (code cowboy on the team), but it was more related to "Ninja Coder" then the problem that I have.
I have a team member who is a pure living example of "Cowboy Coder".
I do ...
5
votes
1answer
368 views
Working environment
I realise that this might not be the right place to ask questions about employment and that the question my raise debate etc.
The company I work for recently decided that rather than having one web ...
0
votes
2answers
105 views
Dealing with Upgrade Lists [closed]
I'm curious to how others deal with upgrade lists and feature suggestions for developments (ie popular community driven websites)
At the moment, when a user makes a suggestions for an ...
8
votes
2answers
426 views
Interview: how to ask development process/culture related questions
I just watched a presentation about simplicity by Rich Hickey at InfoQ where he goes over the constructs programmers use to produce artifacts and how those constructs make various trade-offs when it ...
6
votes
7answers
711 views
how to avoid workaholic tag
As we all know a programmer just needs a computer and a network connection. When these things are available at your disposal you can program anywhere in the world.
Now this is causing me a bit of ...
4
votes
3answers
315 views
How to work in an environment with a 'character assasin' [closed]
This is hard to explain, so I will start with my background. I have been in development for about 8 years (6 commercial), have a MSc in OO Info Systems, have a true passion for development and up ...
3
votes
1answer
711 views
Let go yet again from another job, should I give up on programming? [closed]
I've been let go three times from three different jobs already in the past four years.
The first job was doing seismic interpretation software in C++. It lasted nearly three months. The reasoning was ...
10
votes
9answers
2k views
Is Cygwin or Windows Command Prompt preferable for getting a consistent terminal experience for development?
The question:
Which is better, installing cygwin or one of its cousins on all my windows machines to have a consistent terminal experience across all my development machines, or becoming well trained ...
