What was the absolute worst programming job and why?
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Worst job ever was working for Visual Systems. Everybody sitting in a huge office landscape but nobody communicating. I was asked to make a database but was given no data to work with because "you don't need it". I was assinged to many projects but I never even got invited to any meetings. Talk about lack of management skills... jhaga
How to earn $100/month.
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Agreeing to pair programming at a software house many years ago becuase I though it would be cool to try out a fairly new concept and almost coming to blows because my 'partner' was a complete ****. I think he thought the same about me. Needless to say I'll never do that again!
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I was working with a team of freelancers besides my regular job, taking on mid-sized (sometimes a bit bigger :) ) projects. One of my friends accepted a project with a history like this: Its development started in India, and after a while the project manager wasn't satisfied with the results, found a new team in Estonia, and continued it there. A month and a half before the deadline (by deadline I mean presenting the solution on a seminar in front of the clients, and hopefully installing it the next week... In other words completely finished product) the project manager decides that he's not satisfied with the Estonian team's results, either! (May I repeat... A MONTH AND A HALF before deadline) So, he finds a new team... uhm.. my team. My friend accepts the project! From now on.. it's one for all, all for (n)one :) So the situation now was: We have semi(not)-working code which we had to review while he's writing the specification! By review, I mean make the existing code work. By the time that's done the rest of the specs are to be completed, and we can proceed with development of the rest of the features. Oh, and I failed to mention that there's no documentation on the code, and not a single line of comments! Surely enough, the PM never wrote the specs, never sent any documentation. Actually, if I needed to proove that something is working like it should, I had to dig through the MSN logs and point out to him when he said that something should be done the way it is! That's not all... The team member count was 5 at the start. Half way there, two of them left and the guy who accepted the project started to suffer from every possible syndrome that has anything to do with stress. Ending up in hospital... we count him out, too. So... instead of 5, it's just 2 guys doing the impossible job. Sleep was limited to three hours on three days. A month later, we manage to pull it off as much as humanly possible. We even got enthusiastic about the project, confident that it’ll be completed on time. At that time the project manager’s superior found out the whole history of the project and cancelled it! The project manager misteriously dissapeared from MSN (company account). We did got paid for that month, but the satisfaction isn't there. The project was interesting and would've been a success. Sadly, we didn't get it from the start. Things would've been a lot different :(
To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.
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I worked in a company for two weeks. After working on a tiny project a few days, they decided to cancel it and showed me an ISA Server extension and asked me to develop it. I said I know nothing of ISA; give me a few hours to find out how it works. That day I told them: "As I stated when I had been employed, I don't know COM."(I actually new few about it and had been working with it a couple of weeks with it, so I new how hard it is to master it.) ISA plug-ins use COM to connect to server. I believe someone with a good knowledge on COM should do it. They said no, you have to learn COM and do this. I told them this will take months at least to master COM and also ISA. They insisted on having no more than a month time to commercially sell the product. I said even if I know COM it takes months to write such a big extension. They said no. I then asked to quit thinking that "a company that cannot recognize the difference between commercial project and a research and develop approach will not succeed. They have a bad plan which is worse than having no plan!" They again asked me to wait because they found a solution. What was it? Hack that commercial product, remove limitations, put their company name on it. design and develop an unbreakable lock for it. :doh: I quit and never employed anywhere again, I returned back to my old job; sign contract do the job and get my money. This way I can chose what to do and what not to do, but I earn less. I'm also working to run my own business in a few months I guess.
"In the end it's a little boy expressing himself." Yanni
modified on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 4:08 AM
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Developing sharepoint portal customizations without even some form of documentation that you can remotely call a specification. The specs were like this "I want uhm a sharepoint portal for our customer documentation, uhm..."
WM. What about weapons of mass-construction? "What? Its an Apple MacBook Pro. They are sexy!" - Paul Watson My blog
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Anything that includes one or more of the following statements: - I just need a button that... - We had this system developed for us and would like you to... - It shouldn't be too hard to do... - Our last programmer was on drugs... (true story) - Do you know Lotus Notes? - We have an old system that we want converted to :insert language here: (as if it will happen by magic?!!??!!) - No, we don't have the source code - do you need it? (again, true story) Feel free to add to the list!!
-------------------------------------------------------- Knowledge is knowing that the tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in fruit salad!!
_Damian S_ wrote:
- I just need a button that...
_Damian S_ wrote:
- Our last programmer was on drugs... (true story)
_Damian S_ wrote:
- No, we don't have the source code - do you need it? (again, true story
:laugh:
If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
[My articles] -
The job I had for 4 or so weeks at a game company where the lead guy was reinventing the 3D engine and the company ran out of money and didn't tell their employees, leading them on with "I'll get your checks in a couple days" and then one day, the people financing the game (who stopped financing it, obviously) came in in the middle of the night and took all the computer equipment (which was their property so they had every right to do so.) Marc
Well, working for a game company should be amazing and, you know, money is the root of all evil today... :-D
If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
[My articles] -
There are 2 experiances that could count as worst job (haven't figure out wich one is the worst) 1: my first job Hired to do .NET programming I end up in a enviroment completly programmed in a language I knew nothing about (the name even eludes me at the moment)[EDIT](just remembered the name: navision)[\EDIT]. First 2 weeks I have nothing to (really I spend 2 weeks sitting there doing nothing, sounds nice but trust me it isn't). Thirth week I get asked to do some minor adjustments to a report, so I think well this should be easy (really they were very minor, move a label and such). I spend 4 hours searching how to do this, then asked one of the other programmers and get the answer 'It's somewhere in the code, just fidle with it a bit and see what happens'. I do so and another 3 hours later still nothing, I ask the programmer if he can show me how to do it and get the answer 'Sorry I don't know how to do it I have to do just the same like you, fidle with it and watch what happens'. I turned around gave my resigniation and got the hell out of there. 2: my current job (the first 6 months) Again hired to do .NET programming (this time I really got to work and in .net) next to a supposidly very expirenced programmer. He talked my boss into buying a component (will remain unnamed) with the promise it will improve the programming speed. After 6 months we still hadn't finished the programme (wich should have been done in 1 month). The guy never talked to me never told me what he changed, didn't document or comment code, and for everything my boss asked (simple stuff like a simple lookup in a combobox list) his answer was: 'That's not possible standerd, I'll have to write code for it wich will take xx time'. Thank god my boss fired him or I wouldn't have lasted another month. I still have to use that component for 1 project (small one) and everytime I curse like hell when the client asks for a change (ofcourse not out loud ;P ) I think number 1 was the worst but 2 is a very close folower
modified on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 6:19 AM
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I have had a few were the client has failed to pay. Those are probably worse. At least when you get paid it is easy to write off the bad stuff as just another day. Although, there was this one place. My first real job. I was left to do a task all by myself with no real experience and I did it. Problem was it didn't work. Two weeks I spent re-writing and testing and re-writing only to find out that it was the bosses code that caused the error (the holy among holy that I was not allowed to touch). Then I get dinged on my performance review for it :P
Need a C# Consultant? I'm available.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest HemingwayMaybe not my worst job but the same result. Got given wave 2 of a project that was originally set up by my boss. The whole thing went horribly wrong and over budget for a variety of reasons mostly Fuzzy spec (written and approved by my boss) so not what the client actually wanted Tasks agreed (by my boss) with the client but not included in the budget(controlled by my boss) so way over budget Got slaughtered by my boss for the projects problems and no bonus or pay rise as a result. The bit I loved the most was finding a "Post Mortem" report from my bosses original wave 1 setup from before I joined (which it seems also went wrong for exactly the same reasons) detailing what went wrong and how these problems must avoided in the future.
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There are 2 experiances that could count as worst job (haven't figure out wich one is the worst) 1: my first job Hired to do .NET programming I end up in a enviroment completly programmed in a language I knew nothing about (the name even eludes me at the moment)[EDIT](just remembered the name: navision)[\EDIT]. First 2 weeks I have nothing to (really I spend 2 weeks sitting there doing nothing, sounds nice but trust me it isn't). Thirth week I get asked to do some minor adjustments to a report, so I think well this should be easy (really they were very minor, move a label and such). I spend 4 hours searching how to do this, then asked one of the other programmers and get the answer 'It's somewhere in the code, just fidle with it a bit and see what happens'. I do so and another 3 hours later still nothing, I ask the programmer if he can show me how to do it and get the answer 'Sorry I don't know how to do it I have to do just the same like you, fidle with it and watch what happens'. I turned around gave my resigniation and got the hell out of there. 2: my current job (the first 6 months) Again hired to do .NET programming (this time I really got to work and in .net) next to a supposidly very expirenced programmer. He talked my boss into buying a component (will remain unnamed) with the promise it will improve the programming speed. After 6 months we still hadn't finished the programme (wich should have been done in 1 month). The guy never talked to me never told me what he changed, didn't document or comment code, and for everything my boss asked (simple stuff like a simple lookup in a combobox list) his answer was: 'That's not possible standerd, I'll have to write code for it wich will take xx time'. Thank god my boss fired him or I wouldn't have lasted another month. I still have to use that component for 1 project (small one) and everytime I curse like hell when the client asks for a change (ofcourse not out loud ;P ) I think number 1 was the worst but 2 is a very close folower
modified on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 6:19 AM
Hmm, was that component an OR-Mapper? :laugh:
Wout
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Writing an ASP.NET app in VB. Seriously: don't do it X| The IT Director ( a journalist ) had written a "prototype" X| X| I wrote 120,000 LOC in a year and they didn't pay my last invoice X| X| X| They generated £1M ( $2M ) in sales in a year :mad:
---------------------------------- Be excellent to each other :)
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Agreeing to pair programming at a software house many years ago becuase I though it would be cool to try out a fairly new concept and almost coming to blows because my 'partner' was a complete ****. I think he thought the same about me. Needless to say I'll never do that again!
I'd like to see some real world examples showing that it actually works. I'm interested in agile methodologies but pair programming... I don't know. Does that mean the client pays for two full-time developers working on one routine at the same time (one is a backseater)? Everyone has a different coding style and it may lead to the exact situation that you depicted (fighting). Maybe pair programming is good when you need to improve performance of some routines/modules? Maybe if it involves a complex algorithm it's better to have two brains to think about it? But otherwise than that wouldn't unit tests, naming conventions and coding standards be enough?
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Hmm, was that component an OR-Mapper? :laugh:
Wout
No, I think (from what I understand off OR-Mapper) that would even be an improvment so... I would give the name but I don't think that anyone here would consider using it so no need to warn people (in my defence at the time I was just starting my career so didn't have the knowledge to tell my boss not to take it, I (and my boss aswell) took the word of that 'experienced' programmer and believed him)
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I'd like to see some real world examples showing that it actually works. I'm interested in agile methodologies but pair programming... I don't know. Does that mean the client pays for two full-time developers working on one routine at the same time (one is a backseater)? Everyone has a different coding style and it may lead to the exact situation that you depicted (fighting). Maybe pair programming is good when you need to improve performance of some routines/modules? Maybe if it involves a complex algorithm it's better to have two brains to think about it? But otherwise than that wouldn't unit tests, naming conventions and coding standards be enough?
It was a software house that I'd previoulsy consulted for and had helped to write the core product so it seemed a good fit. However this other chap and myself were just not suited to each other and I felt the exercise was more about micro-management than achieving anything of importance. I'm not saying I was always right and he wrong but, after a while, I just couldn't stand the sight of him. I'm okay in a team or alone but not with someone sitting with me every minute of every day (well, it felt like it): it just doesn't work and I've yet to see it work properly anywhere I've been. I have turned down work on the basis of pair programming.
Pawel Krakowiak wrote:
Maybe pair programming is good when you need to improve performance of some routines/modules? Maybe if it involves a complex algorithm it's better to have two brains to think about it?
Indded but that doesn't need pair programming.
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First day... Me: So, where is the code kept? Boss: Well, I have some copies of it on my laptop, and Steve has it as well. Me: On his laptop? Boss: Yes. But we don't know where Steve is, and he's taken his laptop with him. [Long pause] Me: Are you saying you don't use source control? Boss: I don't think so. But we do back-up the server regularly. Me: But the code is on the laptops, not the server? Boss: Yes. [Longer pause, deep breaths] Me: OK. So do you know which customers have which version? [Even longer pause] Boss: It depends what you mean by 'version'. [Much shorter pause] Me: I just need to get something from my car. I think I'll take my coat...
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Back when I was new at running a company, I agreed to take on an open ended project. The scope looked to be fairly well defined, and I estimated it would take 2 months to deliver. Oh what an idiot I was - the contract I presented was full of holes, and the client ruthlessly took advantage of us. 6 months later and with the scope blown wide open, we finally delivered the application. Stupidly, we let the client have the source as well - baaad mistake that; they changed the code and then demanded updates in the supported app. This wouldn't have been so bad if we'd known that they'd been mucking around with core functionality. Never again.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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The job I had for 4 or so weeks at a game company where the lead guy was reinventing the 3D engine and the company ran out of money and didn't tell their employees, leading them on with "I'll get your checks in a couple days" and then one day, the people financing the game (who stopped financing it, obviously) came in in the middle of the night and took all the computer equipment (which was their property so they had every right to do so.) Marc
That sounds par for the course for most game companies :-D (I'm currently at my fourth one, after two shut-downs and a lay off...)
There are three kinds of people in the world - those who can count and those who can't...
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Anything that includes one or more of the following statements: - I just need a button that... - We had this system developed for us and would like you to... - It shouldn't be too hard to do... - Our last programmer was on drugs... (true story) - Do you know Lotus Notes? - We have an old system that we want converted to :insert language here: (as if it will happen by magic?!!??!!) - No, we don't have the source code - do you need it? (again, true story) Feel free to add to the list!!
-------------------------------------------------------- Knowledge is knowing that the tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in fruit salad!!
The one every game developer dreads :- - Can you make it more like [insert GTA, Halo, WoW or some other top seller here]
There are three kinds of people in the world - those who can count and those who can't...
modified on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 7:57 AM
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I used to maintain Windows apps written in Delphi 7 which used SQL Server 2000. The client part wasn't using any OOP concepts (besides what Delphi generates, I guess :P) and the SQL part was the worst... Someone thought it would be cool if the code run on any database regardless of its name, so all queries were enclosed in exec statements, like so: exec("select * into table2 from table1") No one heard of table variables, no one heard of temporary tables either. Usually there was one huge stored procedure which did processing from start to end and stored intermediary results by destroying and creating physical tables, everything in execute statements of course. Said procedures used to run 40 minutes on multi-processor servers with a lot of memory and sometimes choked them to the point where SQL Server couldn't run anything else for the duration and spit timeouts. And in the 30th minute you encountered a syntax error somewhere in your dynamic SQL. :D Oh, joy... There was no documentation for the code, but there was also no documentation (or a very sparse one) for the applications, so I didn't really know what was their purpose - every app calculated some financial data and I didn't have a clue what would be the correct result. The funniest thing is there were users who have been working with said apps for like 7 years and even knew their way around some stored procedures, so at times they were able to tell me what to fix (as they were not allowed to do it directly, it had to go through the IT dept.). Ridiculous, isn't it? :laugh: