

The lies that software developers tell - daveambrose
http://startups.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/07/the-lies-that-software-developers-tell.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+VcInDc+%28VC+in+DC%29

======
humbledrone
I really wish I had enough karma to downvote this article. I've certainly
heard such lies from bad developers before, but the author frames some of the
lies as if _all_ developers tell them. As a developer myself, I found the
article to be snide and insulting.

~~~
ax0n
Articles can't get downvoted, only flagged. Personally, I completely disagree
with it, but I wouldn't flag it because of its relevance to HN. I only flag
spam, linkbait and off-topic stuff, usually.

------
ramy_d
I... I have to reply to this ridiculous article. First, i want to point this
guy out. This guy is called Don Rainey and he works for Grotech Ventures
<http://www.grotech.com/> which like to show how many CEOs they have.

Straight up, grotech ventures doesn't know how to properly render websites,
see here,
[http://www.procrastinatorstangent.com/rd/hacker_news/grotech...](http://www.procrastinatorstangent.com/rd/hacker_news/grotech.jpg)

so tweak that, Don.

no - but seriously, I came here to write something important, and here it is:
I don't know if Don is managing _right now_, but judging by this article, i'm
going to assume he is (even though this is probably a list of things not to
say when doing a pitch to him). Now Don has been managing peeps like most us
at HN for 30 years. That's crazy.

can you imagine doing something for 30 years? I can barely imagine doing the
same something for 5, but he's done this for 30. That means he has experience.

Now, I don't know Don, but today, on this cool sunday, Don has summed up 30
years of experience to me into 8 rude complaints. He has pointed out flaws he
has seen over and over again without pointing out any solutions or
constructive criticisms or proper examples to look up to. And that to me is
like a child complaining.

dev - "it's modular, so we ca-" don - "no."

what? what kind of conversation is _that_? can you not think of 1 modular
application ever built? By the comments here, some people clearly have. Off
the top of my head, here is one modular project
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrlicht_Engine> and here is one of its modules
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OGRE3D>, here are some of ITS modules:
<http://www.ogre3d.org/addonforums/> and <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEGUI>

Now these and other examples versus his points could be argued as exceptions,
and from Don's point of view, as a VC, then yeah - probably few and far apart.
But what does that say about what he is talking about? what does that say
about VC pitching? and promise offerings? and the fucking nerve racking
experience that must be to have to face off a Negative Nancy like him for
money.

Don Rainey comes off as the kind of guy who "knows when it's not right" but
has no direction into how to achieve something that is satisfactory even for
himself.

[http://clientsfromhell.net/post/697519797/me-lets-talk-
about...](http://clientsfromhell.net/post/697519797/me-lets-talk-about-color-
first-do-you-have-any)

[http://clientsfromhell.net/post/742771834/me-could-you-
pleas...](http://clientsfromhell.net/post/742771834/me-could-you-please-
provide-us-with-details-of)

[http://clientsfromhell.net/post/789388118/while-
developing-a...](http://clientsfromhell.net/post/789388118/while-developing-
an-affiliate-website-for-one-of)

~~~
hga
One of the reasons really like and recommend the _Antipatterns_ book
([http://www.amazon.com/AntiPatterns-Refactoring-Software-
Arch...](http://www.amazon.com/AntiPatterns-Refactoring-Software-
Architectures-Projects/dp/0471197130/)) and approach is that it starts with
the identification of a bad pattern (this author's complaints are at a higher
level, though) and ends with recommendations on how to re-mediate it.

As you indicate, based on this article it's hard to see Mr. Rainey providing
constructive help, and for that matter I wonder what he's trying to accomplish
with this screed. I suppose that's consistent with it, the major takeaway is
"don't get involved with this person or his firm!"

------
ryanwaggoner
This guy seems like a real jackass.

~~~
nopassrecover
Anyone who has this kind of attitude is going to bring out the worst in both
the selection process for his team and the quality output of that team. It is
little wonder that his experience has been so poor, I don't know a good
developer that would work for something like this.

------
rje
"I was here working until 4am"

This happens. Sometimes we get urgent (or unreasonable) requests for features
and not enough time to implement them. I'd much rather be doing /anything/
else at the time usually. Like sleeping for instance.

"It is the server or bandwidth"

To be fair, sometimes it's both.

"With the product debugged, we need to go back into the code and speed it up"

I'd much rather get to a solid and tested implementation that we can revise to
improve performance than never get anything working at all.

~~~
dasil003
Also on the 4am thing there is this:

 _Which is true if you include "off and on" 10 minute coding periods_

Showing that not only does he not understand how programming is done, but he
also lacks basic knowledge of how to use quotation marks.

------
alextgordon
Let me be devil's advocate:

1\. I could do that in a weekend

This is a _figure of speech_. It's not literally true, it just serves to
reinforce a point. It means that they can do X in a relatively short period of
time.

2\. It's completely modular

It's perfectly possible to write modular code. It's also perfectly possible to
take non-modular code and make it modular. I've done both.

3\. With the product debugged, we need to go back into the code and speed it
up.

Performance issues are bugs just like anything else. They must be triaged. If
it's major, then you can't just _leave it in_. If it's minor, then maybe you
can. Whether the fix could cause more bugs is irrelevant: there's always this
risk when changing any code (no matter how large or small the fix).

7\. It is the server or bandwidth

It's not unusual for resources or bandwidth to be an issue. You can't always
blame it on the code.

------
j_baker
I have to disagree with a few of these, especially #3. Slow code isn't
necessarily bad code. In fact, speeding it up may turn it into bad code.

------
ax0n
I've probably seen at least one example of each of these at some point in my
career (Education, consulting, entertainment, financial and online sales
industries, 2 of which were startups). Most of the developers who act like
this didn't last long. I have also seen all of these "myths" busted.

Sometimes the server really is anemic. I've seen a new feature set added in a
weekend of 4am hacking sessions that involved code, not cola and porn. I've
seen people get RIGHTFULLY blamed for their shitty code. And I've seen the UI
get tweaked so that it works so flawlessly for the demo that it got opened to
private beta the next day.

People who are this acerbic and jaded about things in their line of work
should consider doing something more interesting and fun with their time.

------
tzs
I'm curious. How many have better bandwidth at work than home, especially for
games and porn?

At work we have 9 Mbit up and down. At home on Comcast I get typically 10-20
down (regardless of speedboost or whatever they call it) and 2 or 3 up. Of
course work has an SLA so in theory should have less downtime, but they have
actually been not too different (an SLA really means you will get generous
credits for outages, not that you won't have them!)

Overall I'd have to say that home wins.

------
kls
_It's completely modular_

If they are not building systems that are modular, then you are most likely
nickle and dime'ing you development strategy and getting junior developers
when you need seniors. This will always result in spaghetti code and the
famous "we need to rewrite this" to any system they did not write.

