
Dave had “fuck you, pay me” programming skills - longstaff2009
https://medium.com/@ben_longstaff/dave-had-fuck-you-pay-me-programming-skills-8edc9446a229
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schwartzworld
Good for Dave, although if your whole operation can't function because one
person doesn't come to work (justified or not), maybe that's a sign something
is wrong.

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longstaff2009
I would say most small engineering teams have that risk

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wil421
I was not Dave but I was the engineer who knew everything about the system at
the MegaCorp. Turns out life goes on after I left and I’m sure after some pain
the system still functions.

I was talking to my co-worker who was still there. He was afraid to leave
since he’s now the only one left. I told him who cares the company wouldn’t
care about you and our skills are marketable at the moment.

Don’t let guilt keep you underemployed or employed at a shitty place. Level up
and move on.

~~~
ok_coo
Agreed. As an added bonus, if they really need him to fix something, they can
contract it out to him. And if he doesn't want anything to do with them
anymore, he can just charge a high enough rate that they'll bugger off after
the first bill comes due.

This is how our modern system works and I wish more people would see it this
way because the corp see you (and everyone) as disposable.

~~~
wil421
Exactly. Wil421 Consulting Inc. would gladly accept a contract to fix your
ailing system.

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yongjik
> No one dared comment on Dave’s behaviour.

> Being in Dave’s bad books meant being denied support. Support for the
> libraries he wrote. The libraries which powered every clients’ project.

> I was in awe of the respect that Dave commanded.

Now, obviously it's not nice to comment on one's sexual (or fashion)
preferences, but sounds like this exact same thing could have happened if Dave
was smoking at desk or piling used coffee mugs.

A library that powers the whole company being managed by a single guy who has
to answer all others' questions, and _selectively denying answers when he
feels like_ , is not a sign of a great programmer. It may not be a sign of a
bad programmer (maybe he's just tired of shit), but it's certainly a sign of a
poorly run place.

~~~
mcphage
> this exact same thing could have happened if Dave was smoking at desk or
> piling used coffee mugs.

It could have happened if Dave was crocheting hand-warmers for homeless
orphans, too.

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sterlind
This was literally my plan for a few years. I had a knack for algorithm
design, I've changed the direction of teams by writing code alone for several
months.. and I really wanted to wear dresses to work for some reason.
Fortunately my first breakthrough coincided with starting estrogen, so I got
to present my scheduling algorithm to some execs, wearing a blouse and skirt
because I felt _very secure._

I'm not an asshole, though, and it really doesn't sound like Dave was that
mean, other than just having skills and strong boundaries.

~~~
GaryNumanVevo
I'm glad that you had the confidence and security in your environment to do
that! My hope is that in the future people don't have to be a major economic
contributor to a business to express their true selves

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gubbrora
I think you all are missing a key element of the story. Dave was a cool dude.
People liked him. He didn't take shit, but he didn't abuse his leverage or go
on power trips.

And that's part of why he got away with things.

Also according to the story he did spread his knowledge rather than jealously
guarding it

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cardiffspaceman
OT, but really: Since when does a public holiday (I believe these are
disclosed in advance in documents you can acquire in an office-supply store)
disrupt payroll operations so badly that a paycheck is skipped?

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brodouevencode
Twenty years ago banks (at least in the US) shut down over the weekend. Some
pioneers like BoA had Saturday morning hours, but if there was a national
holiday good effin luck getting anything from them outside of what was
available at an ATM. You have to remember banks, even now, are and were way
behind the technology curve. There was no online banking. No customer focus.
No check deposits at an ATM (you had to drop it into an overnight bin).
Payroll companies followed suit, and any financially-centric company did as
well.

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hcarvalhoalves
Sounds like Dave enjoyed having the entire company as hostage. Pretty good for
getting paid I guess but not someone I would want to work with.

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longstaff2009
I suspect that Dave's pay was not proportionate to his skills

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tosser0001
I suspect that Dave doesn't actually exist.

Stories this well-calibrated to make a specific point I think are generally
fabricated from whole cloth.

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longstaff2009
As the author I probably can't change your mind without revealing his real
identity, but i'm glad you thought the writing was well calibrated :) so
thanks I guess?

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azhu
There is a lot that could be considered wrong about this situation and a lot
of directions fingers could be pointed.

Dave should not have been of such importance to the company in the first
place. When you hire a person who brings in domain knowledge but doesn't
spread it around, you're more renting value from them than you are buying it.
In scenarios when such a singular repository of vital domain knowledge is
unavoidable, relationships between that person and the rest of the company
must be overseen to ensure minimal adversity and maximal alliance.

At the end of the day, when you build a company you are building a team. The
more each member is motivated towards the team's collective goal, the more you
will be able to leverage the skills you hired onto the team towards the ends
you hired them for. People like to think about technical skills as if they
somehow exist independent of the human they are inside of. The reality is that
the human is the portal through which the skill is delivered, and their human
traits are of first class importance when considering how well they will be
able to apply their skills should you choose them for your team.

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petraeus
Arent the best programmers the ones where the system just works without you
having to be there? Dave isnt a 10x programmer is more like a -10x cry baby
and the company just didnt know any better.

~~~
mcphage
> the company just didnt know any better

Well, they definitely didn't know enough to not skip payroll.

