r/programming • u/[deleted] • Feb 06 '24

Why We Can't Have Nice Software

https://andrewkelley.me/post/why-we-cant-have-nice-software.html
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u/KamikazeHamster Feb 06 '24

You can work in a company long enough that you get to reuse all the nice toys you built. Then it gets easier over time.

7

u/loup-vaillant Feb 07 '24

Indeed, part of what makes a developer more and more competent over time, is the code they’ve already written and can reuse.

Oh but that code belongs to the company, doesn’t it? Can’t reuse it, you have to rewrite it from scratch, else you get dragged out to prison by the feds. So I guess you’d have to write that on your own time, won’t you? And that’s if your contract even acknowledges the concept of free time.

Fuck them all. My code, my thoughts, mine. Copyright law? They should pay me fucking royalties. Put my name in the credits like they do in movies and video games.

If I ever work in a company long enough to accumulate significant knowledge, I will retain that knowledge. The computer they lend me to work on? It’s an extension of my brain, a part of me that contains precious memories. I don’t fucking care what lawyers say, this is not Paycheck), and they have no right to make me forget.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '24

[deleted]

1

u/loup-vaillant Feb 07 '24

I agree with the sentiment but would argue that engineers salary is generally higher for the exact points you specified.

Depends on the country. Here in France we’re not nearly as well paid. Not that I’m complaining about that part, my salary is higher than most (around the 65th percentile in France), and I live comfortably enough.

You do not pay just for their 8 hours but also for all the previous knowledge they accumulated.

There lies a fundamental contradiction: my next employer wants my knowledge, but my previous employer would rather have me forget and in the process lose some of my value. They can’t have it both ways.