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InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)JU
Posts
41
Comments
1,452
Joined
2 yr. ago

  • Really going to suck for them when a big chunk of the properties backing their mortgage loans get repeatedly wiped out due to climate change related natural disasters and ultimately become uninsurable.

    Eventually, climate change is going to hit real estate lending in certain areas really hard.

  • This week's project is improving the heat transfer from our massive double sided fireplace. It has a steel firebox with a very basic heat exchanger. Airflow through the heat exchanger is poor. I'm adding a blower in the basement to draw air from a nearby register and force it up over the firebox, out the vents on top.

    Basically trying to squeeze every single bit of efficiency possible out of a very inefficient heat source since I don't currently have the time or money to install an insert.

  • I know at some point politics will get me and my style of insulating my engineers will cost me my job, even though by doing so we have great productivity metrics.

    Mine ultimately did cost me my job. Or at least it was a contributing factor. I was so sick of the relentless conflict and the toxicity. When I eventually got fired, I missed my team but I was also relieved. It was like a huge weight being lifted. Knowing what I know now, I would never have taken the job to begin with. On the other hand, I do think it helped me grow personally and figure out what my values are. I decided I was ready to put my career on the line if I had to choose between keeping my job and doing the right thing. I did the best I could and my conscience is clear.

  • We should reframe climate change as an attack on winter recreational activities. Then Republicans might actually give a shit about it.

    "Oh, I'm not worried about climate change. But I'm very concerned about the impending demise of snowmobiling."

  • 17 years in tech. Made it to director level. Decided I hated ladder climbing. Transitioned to software engineering full time and spent the last 5 years doing that. The work life balance was a lot better but the corporate BS was not. I've decided corporate jobs may not be for me.

    Currently working on a software project of my own. If that works out, great. If not, I may get out of the business instead of going to another corporate job. I've got enough experience to do just about anything I want to but I honestly don't know what that would be.

  • Don't look at me. I voted five. And then when the scrum master was like, "jubilationtcornpone, are you ok with it being a three?" I said "No." But someone who thought they knew better decided it was going to be a three anyways.

  • "Doctor, anywhere I take my baby, things keep exploding violently. Like in a way that seems excessive and dramatic. What do I do?"

    "Oh dear. Well it seems your baby has Michael Bay Syndrome. I wouldn't expect the explosions to stop any time soon but it's not life threatening. Other symptoms usually include misogyny and negative reviews on Rotton Tomatoes."

  • I was listening to NPR a few days ago and they were talking -- in the context of Jimmy Carter's passing -- about the global community having to grapple with two different sides of the United States. The side that is incredibly generous and has contributed an enormous amount to the welfare of people throughout the world and the side that is a basically a bully that uses it's vast power and influence as a means to further it's own selfish interests.

    Both of those things can certainly be true. The US has contributed a lot of positive things to the global community and at the same time, the US is effectively the most powerful and sophisticated empire in human history. Empires cannot maintain their power without oppression. Over the last 249 years, we have created some truly horrific disasters, at home and abroad, in the name of acquiring and maintaining power. That deserves criticism no matter who's doing it.

  • There are a few things you can do that will help make everyone's life easier.

    First thing, ask engineering what can be done to reduce technical debt and then fight for it aggressively. This is often a hard sell to the product owners at first because it can increase the time it takes to produce new features, at least initially. In the long term, it will pay huge dividends to everyone involved.

    When tech debt gets ignored on a new project, the timeline usually goes something like this:

    • Project is barreling toward MVP at lightening speed. The Product owner said "move fast, break things" and engineering is delivering based on that mindset and everything seems to be going great.
    • MVP is almost ready but uh oh! Now a new feature has been requested.
    • "Move fast, break things" doesn't allow time for code that is easily understandable or extendable to fit new use case scenarios so a huge chunk of the codebase has to be rewritten to accommodate the new feature.
    • Wash, rinse, repeat.

    Without a major change in design philosophy, the cycle tends to get worse over time with small features requiring more and more extensive refactoring and the number of regression bugs skyrocketing. Not to mention the code base is now a disorganized, smoldering pile of spaghetti that every dev loathes having to work on. Stakeholders are unhappy. Customers are unhappy. Engineers are unhappy. Everyone is unhappy.

    Second thing, talk to some actual users, people who are NOT involved in the project, to get their feedback. As an engineer, I like working on projects that add value to someone's life, or at least make their work day easier. I want the user experience to be positive. I want the features I'm working on to enhance that experience. I don't want to waste my time working on features that are completely useless and will be rejected by the users as such just because some VP who doesn't understand what the users want has a bright idea. I've experienced this a lot throughout my career and to some degree it's curbed my interest in software engineering, simply because I feel like a lot of my time and effort were wasted on projects or features that were DOA.

  • If it were any other US president it would certainly be newsworthy and incredibly alarming. But old Don, as we all know, is completely full of shit and just says things A.) because he's a fucking idiot and B.) to distract from what he's actually up to.