Just like any profession, 20% of the IT professionals are highly qualified. The rest have achieved by luck, nepotism, favoritism, or connections. Of all the managers I’ve had, the best ones don’t micromanage because they were confident in their ability to hire qualified people. I’ve worked on code that was written by imbeciles and I’ve worked on code that was brilliant. Back when I first started, I supported code that was written in the 60’s. No documentation (written or inside the code) and nearly impossible to follow. Those hired in 1960’s IT had very little if any IT experience, very little training, (the company trained them) and most had nothing more than a high school diploma.
Code reviews are dumb and not needed by good programmers. Good programmers today can command a very good wage. AI people are easily making 6 figures. Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone On Friday, March 15, 2024, 8:24 PM, Don Leahy <don.le...@leacom.ca> wrote: I try to never show my code to a manager. No good can come from it. On Fri, Mar 15, 2024 at 4:25 PM Seymour J Metz <sme...@gmu.edu> wrote: > You have to love it when a manager tells you not to use a COBOL verb but > instead to use COBOL.. > > Fortunately, some <https://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3/#bosses> bosses are > better than that. > > -- > Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz > http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 > עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי > נֵ֣צַח יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר > > ________________________________________ > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> on behalf > of Farley, Peter <0000031df298a9da-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> > Sent: Friday, March 15, 2024 4:19 PM > To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU > Subject: Re: Learning one's tools > > +1 from me on continuing to learn the tools of our profession. I use > STRING and UNSTRING where they make sense, and I am still learning new > things about their use every now and then. Life-long learning is the only > path to happiness and success. > > I got the same ridiculous pushback from a senior manager one time on the > use of “sophisticated” SORT verbs like JOIN because “. . . no one but you > will know how to fix it when it breaks . . . let someone do it in COBOL > instead . . .”. > > Peter > > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf > Of Bob Bridges > Sent: Friday, March 15, 2024 12:38 PM > To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU > Subject: Learning one's tools > > > To rant on a related subject, I once worked at a company that instituted > code reviews; a new program would be gone over by a half-dozen coworkers to > be sure it adhered to local standards. This sort of thing is always > painful to the coder, and nevertheless (I admit reluctantly) can have > considerable value if done right. One problem I had with it, though, is > that the standards we created for ourselves admitted that there are times > when exceptions should be made for special cases, and yet when those cases > arose no exceptions were ever allowed; the team invariably flinched, leaned > back in their seats and said "no, that's not according to our standards". > > > > One particular example always rankled: Whenever someone felt the need to > use a STRING or UNSTRING command (I should have said we were COBOL > developers), the team always struck it down on the grounds that STRING and > UNSTRING are unusual commands and some COBOL coders would be unfamiliar > with it. My contention here is that that's absolutely true, and it's the > job of the COBOL coder to ~learn~ the STRING and UNSTRING statements, as > tools of his profession. I never persuaded anyone to that view, though. > > > > --- > > > > This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the > addressee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. > If the reader of the message is not the intended recipient or an authorized > representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any > dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have > received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by > e-mail and delete the message and any attachments from your system. > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
