
Ask HN: Am I the only software engineer unable to build anything? - gZdJNc5C
My company has bought hundreds of 3rd party systems and glued them with bubblegum.
I should be thinking how to improve the situation and developing but 90% of the time I am running around the office trying to find who is responsible for what.
Some weeks I even do not write a single line of code and any change in the current system configuration takes weeks to get approval from some stakeholder somewhere.
Also, most of it is &quot;no code&quot; so everybody can change anything.<p>I have never seen such a situation in my life, just wanted to ask: how common is it?
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gt50201
I think that while it is a common situation in small/scrappy companies, unless
you want to get good at scrapping together tech solution, this may not be the
best experience for you right now.

I was fortunate enough to start at one of the big four out of school and work
on some cool projects. I eventually went to work at a few startups, where it
was more about being a good plumber (similar to what you are doing) than being
a good coder. Many of the junior engineers got burnt out by trying to build
and create solutions (where do I make algorithms?!?) around these 3rd party
systems but the truth is, that wasn't what the business needed. Since I had
already had my fix for creating some complex software, I did okay. I probably
stayed at certain startups too long but I did get better at knowing when to
build vs buy and how to build+buy+glue.

What helped me develop that knowledge was actually spending years building so
I knew the cost of design/implementation/support/extension.

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slater
Very. Get used to it.

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cmollis
sounds like every company I've ever worked at.

