
Lessons learned in 30 years of programming - wvenable
http://www.crazyontap.com/topic.php?TopicId=49725
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skorgu
_Give people credit, even if they don't deserve it._

This, a thousand times this. I'm constantly surprised by the effect that a
simple, heartfelt "good job" can have on motivation. I'm regularly surprised
by the effect it has on _me_.

We're social animals, this kind of response is wired in deep.

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DannoHung
Nice article. I sometimes feel like the youth focus in tech really robs us of
getting the perspective that grizzled old timers who've seen it all and done
it all have. Bonus points if they still cut code more than they attend
meetings.

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Confusion
The comments on that post are reasonable, but the comments on the linked
stories about

 _the most negative people in my thirty years of programming_

are really god awful. That's pretty screwed up community there.

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sev
> "It pays to share everything you know."

The article states something about a "boss" not being too happy with you if
you don't share everything...but my question is, do you guys think it's best
to share everything you know even if you're self-employed or own a small
business? Or does this statement/suggestion only hold when being employed by
someone?

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access_denied
Specially when you are self-employed you should open up the barrier. This
brings interchange of ideas. It is not only you who gives knowledge away, you
also receive insights and ideas from people _inside_ your target industries.
How else do you want to stay up to date in your race against an ever faster
changing worldwide knowledge base?

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tetha
In fact, I am quite curious if there is a certain connection between Kirkhoffs
law and opensource software (well, open-idea-software, but giving out ideas is
almost as good as giving out source, but giving out source definately is more
than giving away an idea). Recall, Kirkhoff's law dictates that the security
of a cryptosystem must not depend on the secrecy of the system itself, but on
the secrecy of the key's involved (and probably P != NP). And now, remember
again: There are some ridiculous well-going open source programs (linux, gcc,
...) and even more, there are certain really well going commercial open source
systems (such as mysql). Thus, I am pretty curious, if there is a similar
kirkhoffs law for software (as in: the commercial success of a software can be
achieved even without keeping the source secret, or something similar).

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tphyahoo
not really sure about the validity of your overall point, but at least for
mysql I would say that's a one off.

most open source software is not going to be ridiculously profitable, and
buyng mysql was a desperation for sun which didn't pay off.

not every startup can open source their code. some can, as reddit did, but
this would not seem to be advisable from time zero, more something you have
the luxury of after you dominate the brand/space.

that said, I tend to share everything knowledge related and not worry about
it, trust to karma.

there are many forms of wealth.

