The 50 year old programmer

[northernladyuk]

Working from home is the answer to all the issues in this thread.
In What other career can someone in their elder years work from home earning tuliploads of cash.?
Make it so.

Good for you.

Urban Dictionary: assguru

[woohoo]

Not yet in my fifties but getting close.

I used to laugh at people that said I'm sick of learning another new framework every two years. It's always been fun learning something new, better. But now I'm looking at new contracts and I'm not looking forward to having to learn angular or react, I get a shudder when I see Entity Framework mentioned.

God help me if it says Agile, first off I've never seen agile done well, I don't like pair programming and I don't like daily stand up meetings.

I'm concentrating on plan B for a little while and intend to go niche and actually be an expert in something rather than a generalist.

[I just need to test it]

As much as I empathise with oliverson (I'm in a similar position after all) I celebrate the miracle of having wound up as an IT contractor. What other role exists where, for minimal stress, you can sit on your backside browsing the web (sometimes in one's dressing gown), chewing the fat with other like-minded cynics, yet being compensated at a level commensurate with that of a mediocre championship footballer? Life, actually, is very very good.

[northernladyuk]

I celebrate the miracle of having wound up as an IT contractor. What other role exists where, for minimal stress, you can you sit on your backside browsing the web (sometimes in one's dressing gown), chewing the fat with other like-minded cynics, yet being compensated at a level commensurate with that of a mediocre championship footballer? Life, actually, is very very good.

I believe we have the CUK manifesto defined. Good work.

[original PM]

Not yet in my fifties but getting close.

I used to laugh at people that said I'm sick of learning another new framework every two years. It's always been fun learning something new, better. But now I'm looking at new contracts and I'm not looking forward to having to learn angular or react, I get a shudder when I see Entity Framework mentioned.

God help me if it says Agile, first off I've never seen agile done well, I don't like pair programming and I don't like daily stand up meetings.

I'm concentrating on plan B for a little while and intend to go niche and actually be an expert in something rather than a generalist.

Up until 2 years ago i would have completely agreed.

But what is the problem of standing up each day and giving a brief update of what you have done and flagging if their is an issue?

The main reason agile fails is because 'management' see daily stand ups as a platform to 'challenge' what people are doing.

The one thing which makes me want to get violent is when some pointless tw@ insist on asking

1 When will that be done?
2 Can it be done quicker?

These 2 phrases add no value and wind people up.

But that is my view and I have to say if the 'stories' or 'dev tasks' are not broken down into easily manageable chunks e.g. nothing should take more than 3 days then agile does fall apart.

But that is the fault of the Product Manager/BA/researchers etc for not doing their job properly.

[Big Blue Plymouth]

Up until 2 years ago i would have completely agreed.

But what is the problem of standing up each day and giving a brief update of what you have done and flagging if their is an issue?

The main reason agile fails is because 'management' see daily stand ups as a platform to 'challenge' what people are doing.

The one thing which makes me want to get violent is when some pointless tw@ insist on asking

1 When will that be done?
2 Can it be done quicker?

These 2 phrases add no value and wind people up.

But that is my view and I have to say if the 'stories' or 'dev tasks' are not broken down into easily manageable chunks e.g. nothing should take more than 3 days then agile does fall apart.

But that is the fault of the Product Manager/BA/researchers etc for not doing their job properly.

But pair programming, frankly, is horrific.

I have my own thought processes and I like to approach problems accordingly..

Yes, I sit down with people and communicate all the time so that we're all on the same page but the thought of bunking up with some random geek just fills me with dread.

I won't do it and if it's part of the client's working practices, I make sure I'm aware of it from the offset so I'm not even put forward.

If, in the others hand, they being in PP halfway through a contract I'd probably walk if they insisted I did it.

[woohoo]

Up until 2 years ago i would have completely agreed.

But what is the problem of standing up each day and giving a brief update of what you have done and flagging if their is an issue?

The main reason agile fails is because 'management' see daily stand ups as a platform to 'challenge' what people are doing.

But that is my view and I have to say if the 'stories' or 'dev tasks' are not broken down into easily manageable chunks e.g. nothing should take more than 3 days then agile does fall apart.

Stand-up meetings tend to be early morning. I start early and it's an interruption to my most productive time. I get little value out of them. I understand it's about communicating with your fellow devs but is it really necessary, every day? Also, they are usually done badly, so taking longer than 15 mins, usually get someone trying to show boat. Also, they rarely feel like a dev update more of a justification for why I'm taking x time to do a task.

[original PM]

But pair programming, frankly, is horrific.

I have my own thought processes and I like to approach problems accordingly..

Yes, I sit down with people and communicate all the time so that we're all on the same page but the thought of bunking up with some random geek just fills me with dread.

I won't do it and if it's part of the client's working practices, I make sure I'm aware of it from the offset so I'm not even put forward.

If, in the others hand, they being in PP halfway through a contract I'd probably walk if they insisted I did it.

But that does not mean it is always the best way to approach the problem - two heads are better than 1.

What you seem to be saying is 'I know the best way to do everything and I am not interested in working closely with someone who may disagree with me. Especially if they may at times have a better way than me.'

Stop being scared of change and embrace it.

[sasguru]

The one thing which makes me want to get violent ...

You've got issues, like most thickos.

[woohoo]

But pair programming, frankly, is horrific.

I have my own thought processes and I like to approach problems accordingly..

Yes, I sit down with people and communicate all the time so that we're all on the same page but the thought of bunking up with some random geek just fills me with dread.

I won't do it and if it's part of the client's working practices, I make sure I'm aware of it from the offset so I'm not even put forward.

If, in the others hand, they being in PP halfway through a contract I'd probably walk if they insisted I did it.

I agree with every bit of this. I think in straight lines, have to understand the problem fully and generally like to think about a problem. However, I've worked with people that just dive in coding straightaway. That's fine if it works for them but putting us together would be a nightmare.

Also, I'm fairly introverted. I'm sociable and people would not say I'm introverted but it does mean that speaking to people is quite tiring.