Coders Often Don't Get To Solve Problems

18 Nov 2024 #misc

Coding is about solving problems with automation.

The most interesting and funniest part is figuring out a coding solution to a problem.

But often, by the time a coder is involved, all the big picture thinking and decision making have already been made, killing all the fun.

Somebody else already talked to customers. Somebody else decided what to do and how long it will take. Somebody else divided the work into milestones. No software engineers or people with boots on the ground were involved.

At a past job, our VP, probably to look smart in front of other executives, promised to finish in one month a project that needed at least 6 months. He picked a number out of thin air without asking anyone.

Coders are only involved to turn JIRA tickets into lines of code.

The most rewarding and funniest projects have been when I have all the context around customer needs and am involved in most of the design and architecture decisions.

If someone else talks to customers and writes specs and we, as coders, only turn those specs into code, we’ll be out of business soon. AI will replace us all.