Software Developer Nature... Positive or Negative
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Today in one of the last production meetings in the company I work for someone raised the question about people coming back early from holiday vacations It was requested to the employees to comeback 2 days earlier because of some special needs. Everybody had their opinion, but I choose to be pessimistic about the early return. As everybody left the room I make a deep though about it , and wonder if a SW Developer (or programer or whatever you call what you do , thats more ego based ) should have a positive or negative state of mind. to me a positive mind is the one that thinks that everything can be done and the negative mind is the one that always expects the worst case (especially when users /people are involved ) What is your opinion? :confused:
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
Edgar Prieto wrote:
...should have a positive or negative state of mind
Neither - it's up to your boss to make sure your team has both positively- and negatively-minded people. I remember reading (long time ago) a research by some psychologists; they were considering scientific reasearch teams, but I guess it should be applicable to IT Their results were that a productive team should include three types of people: - work horses - idea generators, and - critics A dis-balance (that is, lack of any of the above) makes the team a failure. And it does not matter, in which group you belong :)
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Today in one of the last production meetings in the company I work for someone raised the question about people coming back early from holiday vacations It was requested to the employees to comeback 2 days earlier because of some special needs. Everybody had their opinion, but I choose to be pessimistic about the early return. As everybody left the room I make a deep though about it , and wonder if a SW Developer (or programer or whatever you call what you do , thats more ego based ) should have a positive or negative state of mind. to me a positive mind is the one that thinks that everything can be done and the negative mind is the one that always expects the worst case (especially when users /people are involved ) What is your opinion? :confused:
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
Edgar Prieto wrote:
special needs
That's a requirement to go into management.
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PIEBALDconsult wrote:
Cynical optimist.
Is that even possible? After working for a big company and being exposed to idiots on a regular basis I'm finding myself turning into a cynic.
"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." - Thomas Jefferson "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin Edbert Sydney, Australia
Edbert P wrote:
Is that even possible?
I've described myself as that. A cynical optimist is someone who knows it will fail, but when the sky has collapsed, we'll figure out something. He knows that the RAC contractor will screw up the project and turn it into a PITA, but the contractor isn't competent enough to FU it Beyond Any Repair. Sure it's broken, but happiness is only one patch away. Of course that patch will introduce a security leak. Still, hapiness is just another patch away :) Cynism is a good survival strategy if combined with others. Cynism is the ultimate cowardice. Don't lose your optimism.
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PIEBALDconsult wrote:
Cynical optimist.
Is that even possible? After working for a big company and being exposed to idiots on a regular basis I'm finding myself turning into a cynic.
"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." - Thomas Jefferson "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin Edbert Sydney, Australia
Edbert P wrote:
PIEBALDconsult wrote: Cynical optimist. Is that even possible?
Per my 'bio', I've been one for years. Hell - at least it's better than nothing.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"How do you find out if you're unwanted if everyone you try to ask tells you to stop bothering them and just go away?" - Balboos HaGadol"It's a sad state of affairs, indeed, when you start reading my tag lines for some sort of enlightenment. Sadder still, if you receive it." - Balboos HaGadol
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Today in one of the last production meetings in the company I work for someone raised the question about people coming back early from holiday vacations It was requested to the employees to comeback 2 days earlier because of some special needs. Everybody had their opinion, but I choose to be pessimistic about the early return. As everybody left the room I make a deep though about it , and wonder if a SW Developer (or programer or whatever you call what you do , thats more ego based ) should have a positive or negative state of mind. to me a positive mind is the one that thinks that everything can be done and the negative mind is the one that always expects the worst case (especially when users /people are involved ) What is your opinion? :confused:
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
It is well establsihed that one should program defensively. Ergo, I consider the user my enemy.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"How do you find out if you're unwanted if everyone you try to ask tells you to stop bothering them and just go away?" - Balboos HaGadol"It's a sad state of affairs, indeed, when you start reading my tag lines for some sort of enlightenment. Sadder still if that's how you find it." - Balboos HaGadol
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Today in one of the last production meetings in the company I work for someone raised the question about people coming back early from holiday vacations It was requested to the employees to comeback 2 days earlier because of some special needs. Everybody had their opinion, but I choose to be pessimistic about the early return. As everybody left the room I make a deep though about it , and wonder if a SW Developer (or programer or whatever you call what you do , thats more ego based ) should have a positive or negative state of mind. to me a positive mind is the one that thinks that everything can be done and the negative mind is the one that always expects the worst case (especially when users /people are involved ) What is your opinion? :confused:
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
If all the answers were a simple as a bit setting (1 or 0), just think how simple life would be. Three words: shades of gray.
You are here - through no fault of mine!
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Today in one of the last production meetings in the company I work for someone raised the question about people coming back early from holiday vacations It was requested to the employees to comeback 2 days earlier because of some special needs. Everybody had their opinion, but I choose to be pessimistic about the early return. As everybody left the room I make a deep though about it , and wonder if a SW Developer (or programer or whatever you call what you do , thats more ego based ) should have a positive or negative state of mind. to me a positive mind is the one that thinks that everything can be done and the negative mind is the one that always expects the worst case (especially when users /people are involved ) What is your opinion? :confused:
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
Hmmm...positive...Positive I'm not coming back early. I'm positive I earned that vacation time. I've been denied Holiday vacations many times, mostly due to being on deployment in the military where people were/could be dying. Since then, I make sure to plan early with the understanding that in no way will I come back early. And as a manager I make sure my people do the same. Sure we need to have some people here if possible and we always seem to work that out just fine, because we plan ahead. That's why I'm positive we would never ask something of our people...unless of course someone might be dying. ;)
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Edgar Prieto wrote:
about people coming back early from holiday vacations
You actually got leave??? I didn't... I always expect the worst. The funny thing is my manager probably thinks Im the most optimistic person here. He will ask me about a deadline or if Im capable of a task and I will always be like "Sure! Its fine! Everything is fine! Im fine! Are you fine?" This is of course while Im thinking. Its not gonna make deadline. Never does never will. And there is no such thing as negativity, I like to think of it more as being realistic. I always expect the worst and never get dissapointed as a result :) And when things go really well its a bonus! :-D
pietpap wrote:
You actually got leave??? I didn't...
Yup .. 2 weeks of gloriuos vacations (or permit without a salary in case you dont have enough available vacation days left) Its a local (country) policy to do not have any holiday during the year and put them all together in a year end vacation. :)
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
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pietpap wrote:
You actually got leave??? I didn't...
Yup .. 2 weeks of gloriuos vacations (or permit without a salary in case you dont have enough available vacation days left) Its a local (country) policy to do not have any holiday during the year and put them all together in a year end vacation. :)
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
I'm voluntarily taking 7 days of leave in addition to the 3 paid holidays to have two full weeks off over the holidays, but wouldn't want to be anywhere that doing so was mandatory.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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I'm voluntarily taking 7 days of leave in addition to the 3 paid holidays to have two full weeks off over the holidays, but wouldn't want to be anywhere that doing so was mandatory.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
dan neely wrote:
but wouldn't want to be anywhere that doing so was mandatory.
that said I assume you never worked in Mexico before :laugh:
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
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Edgar Prieto wrote:
...should have a positive or negative state of mind
Neither - it's up to your boss to make sure your team has both positively- and negatively-minded people. I remember reading (long time ago) a research by some psychologists; they were considering scientific reasearch teams, but I guess it should be applicable to IT Their results were that a productive team should include three types of people: - work horses - idea generators, and - critics A dis-balance (that is, lack of any of the above) makes the team a failure. And it does not matter, in which group you belong :)
Now that is very interesting. I'd love to read that. Maybe I'll get lucky googling and find it. To answer the original question, I'm an optimist and I think that most people who stick with software engineering are. Because with all the things we've seen go wrong in all the varied ways, we'd never even embark on a new project if we didn't think that this time it will be better. Hmm, I think I just described myself as an idiot :)
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dan neely wrote:
but wouldn't want to be anywhere that doing so was mandatory.
that said I assume you never worked in Mexico before :laugh:
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
nope, the closest I got was an hour or so in the tourist fleecing zone of Tijuana.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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Today in one of the last production meetings in the company I work for someone raised the question about people coming back early from holiday vacations It was requested to the employees to comeback 2 days earlier because of some special needs. Everybody had their opinion, but I choose to be pessimistic about the early return. As everybody left the room I make a deep though about it , and wonder if a SW Developer (or programer or whatever you call what you do , thats more ego based ) should have a positive or negative state of mind. to me a positive mind is the one that thinks that everything can be done and the negative mind is the one that always expects the worst case (especially when users /people are involved ) What is your opinion? :confused:
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
1. Everything can be done... 2. ...if the people involved can make themselves do the necessary things. Now I'll go read what everyone else wrote :laugh:
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dan neely wrote:
but wouldn't want to be anywhere that doing so was mandatory.
that said I assume you never worked in Mexico before :laugh:
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
In the US, financial services firms often forbid their employees to take any vacation at the end of the year without special approval from management well in advance. You never know who you might need to talk to when year-end processes turn into chaotic messes.
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Edgar Prieto wrote:
to me a positive mind is the one that thinks that everything can be done
to me a positive mind means that when something cannot be done as expected, you have a good attitude about it and it does not cause negative actions.
----------------------------------------------------------- HACK: To program a computer in a clever, virtuosic, and wizardly manner. Ordinary computer jockeys merely write programs; hacking is the domain of digital poets. Hacking is a subtle and arguably mystical art, equal parts wit and technical ability, that is rarely appreciated by non-hackers.
I think of it as the "Optimistic Pessimist": Half of the glasses are full.
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Today in one of the last production meetings in the company I work for someone raised the question about people coming back early from holiday vacations It was requested to the employees to comeback 2 days earlier because of some special needs. Everybody had their opinion, but I choose to be pessimistic about the early return. As everybody left the room I make a deep though about it , and wonder if a SW Developer (or programer or whatever you call what you do , thats more ego based ) should have a positive or negative state of mind. to me a positive mind is the one that thinks that everything can be done and the negative mind is the one that always expects the worst case (especially when users /people are involved ) What is your opinion? :confused:
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
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Now that is very interesting. I'd love to read that. Maybe I'll get lucky googling and find it. To answer the original question, I'm an optimist and I think that most people who stick with software engineering are. Because with all the things we've seen go wrong in all the varied ways, we'd never even embark on a new project if we didn't think that this time it will be better. Hmm, I think I just described myself as an idiot :)
Carlosian wrote:
Maybe I'll get lucky googling
Not so sure - I was reading about that research in Russian (though the research itself was conducted in USA, I think) in about 1988, so I'm not sure :sigh: about exact English terms used there, and things were not reported on Internet in those days...