
The Blue Tape List - mooreds
https://randsinrepose.com/archives/the-blue-tape-list/
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mark-r
The example of the door dents was particularly relevant for me, because it
actually happened. When we built our house in 2000, the front door got a lot
of dings in it. We mentioned it to the builder, and they sent over a new door
but never installed it. We stored it against a wall in the garage. 19 years
later and it's still in the garage. The only time it's moved is when it fell
over and put a dent in the car. Not sure what conclusions you can draw from
that.

~~~
phinnaeus
Perhaps that labor and the experience needed to do a job correctly is often
more valuable than the materials needed for the job.

Or maybe it's just about motivation.

~~~
lonelappde
Certainly. It's a flaw in English (and perhaps our brains in general) that
it's easier to discuss objects than services. A Verb in the Kingdom of Nouns
and all that jazz.

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dickeytk
As someone that's recently joined a new team this was a fantastic article to
read. I do sometimes get the sense that everything is broken—even though after
waiting a few days it seems like super minor things.

One error though:

> he whipped out a role of blue painter’s tape

should be "roll"

~~~
lonelappde
Maybe it was something else that could fill the role of blue painter's tape.

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fogleman
It'd be nice to be able to "unlock" this heightened awareness after you've
become dulled - any ideas how to do that?

~~~
mooreds
In my experience, it's really difficult. Things that have worked for me:

* switch to a different department/team/role

* take a sabbatical (maybe two weeks, but a month is better)

~~~
wil421
How do you switch to a new department in a large org? I’ve been working on a
couple cloud systems for 5 years. Demand is high in my area but I want
something more technical but without a pay cut. I use JavaScript day to day
and built a lot of REST/SOAP web services over the years.

Most of the internal jobs are .net and I could learn c# (have some java
experience out of college) but I don’t think my resume will sway the managers.

~~~
groby_b
You won't know until you ask. It depends on your org, clearly, but in general
large companies are somewhat supportive of mobility, because it means they
don't lose you to somebody else.

Find a job you actually care about. Chat with the manager. See what they need.
Good chance nothing comes off it, but at least some chance it opens doors for
you. Maybe not even immediately, but six months later that manager mentions to
another manager "Hey, X cares about Y - aren't you staffing up a new effort?"

Without a paycut might be slightly harder, but usually large orgs operate, for
better or worse, on "all software engineers are interchangeable cogs". This is
one areas where that actually can play to your advantage ;)

~~~
wil421
If I switch internally I think I can avoid the pay cut. If I look outside I
become a junior dev again in X technology, x could be .Net/C# or Python.

~~~
solipsism
_If I look outside I become a junior dev again in X technology, x could be
.Net /C# or Python._

No, no, no. You're looking at the wrong companies. At the _right_ companies,
seniority has nothing (literally nothing) to do with how long you've used a
particular programming language.

