Programmers Rant

[Lasogette]

hi guys any programmers who are working as a programmer in career. Have been working in the consulting industry for 2 years and seemed to have lost passion in this job.

Some background on me. I used to love solving programming issues and would normally feel a sense of satisfaction when a difficult task is being solved. However just feel in the working world, this would no longer apply as in the consulting world, most of the jobs are outsourced to cheaper countries so now not many people would appreciate good coding and instead price is the main factor. So most of the time you will be asked to maintain these coding from these outsourcing companies which sometimes when you debug will make you pull your hair out and most of the time have no comments or documentations.

Any programmers out there facing the same problem as me?

 

[davidktw]

hi guys any programmers who are working as a programmer in career. Have been working in the consulting industry for 2 years and seemed to have lost passion in this job.

Some background on me. I used to love solving programming issues and would normally feel a sense of satisfaction when a difficult task is being solved. However just feel in the working world, this would no longer apply as in the consulting world, most of the jobs are outsourced to cheaper countries so now not many people would appreciate good coding and instead price is the main factor. So most of the time you will be asked to maintain these coding from these outsourcing companies which sometimes when you debug will make you pull your hair out and most of the time have no comments or documentations.

Any programmers out there facing the same problem as me?

Not surprising. But ask yourself why do you need to stick with doing this with a company that doesn't value good coding practices ? Besides why do you need to be always the one working on the code when you can be the one that control how coding should be done ?

With sufficient authority, you can suggest how proper coding should be practice and how codes should be maintained. It's not as if you need to live with something throughout, you ought to know how to position yourself in better the industry if you have good expectations and wanted to set things right. Only those in power have the opportunity to change things.

 

[AnimeNewbie]

hi guys any programmers who are working as a programmer in career. Have been working in the consulting industry for 2 years and seemed to have lost passion in this job.

Some background on me. I used to love solving programming issues and would normally feel a sense of satisfaction when a difficult task is being solved. However just feel in the working world, this would no longer apply as in the consulting world, most of the jobs are outsourced to cheaper countries so now not many people would appreciate good coding and instead price is the main factor. So most of the time you will be asked to maintain these coding from these outsourcing companies which sometimes when you debug will make you pull your hair out and most of the time have no comments or documentations.

Any programmers out there facing the same problem as me?

From my experience, local SME's software are, more often than not, riddled with problems which nobody can solve. One solution is work for reputable companies, eg like NVidia and Autodesk whose source code are better maintained. You can always write to them even if they have no vacancies atm. Never hurts to try.

 

[lycheas]

hi guys any programmers who are working as a programmer in career. Have been working in the consulting industry for 2 years and seemed to have lost passion in this job.

Some background on me. I used to love solving programming issues and would normally feel a sense of satisfaction when a difficult task is being solved. However just feel in the working world, this would no longer apply as in the consulting world, most of the jobs are outsourced to cheaper countries so now not many people would appreciate good coding and instead price is the main factor. So most of the time you will be asked to maintain these coding from these outsourcing companies which sometimes when you debug will make you pull your hair out and most of the time have no comments or documentations.

Any programmers out there facing the same problem as me?

Sure.. being there done that...

You are caught in the "not-in-my-backyard" trap.

The company that you work for chooses to acquire software on the cheap from 3rd party vendors. 2 redlights: (1) Flash for cheap software = quick coding = poor design = poor documentation = just solve the problem but not future proof (2) Flash for company does not allocate resources to provide control over vendors, ie source control guidance, design guidance, coding standards, code handover procedures, mandated documents, documents reviews and corrections.

Company then hire you to patch or add new features until you give up the hopeless fight. Then it hires the next death-march person to continue after you.

From company perspective = good deal = low initial capital outlay (good software very expensive), low running cost (you!) that can be cover by cashflow without incurring high capital cost of borrowing money.

 

[tokyofairies]

Development in Singapore is not valued. Have you spoken to developers from Sweden or Canada? They are highly valued and their culture see the value of IP.

You feel like shiet here.

 

[davidktw]

Development in Singapore is not valued. Have you spoken to developers from Sweden or Canada? They are highly valued and their culture see the value of IP.

You feel like shiet here.

While the common understanding is foreign western countries value their engineers skill set, I don't feel local engineers are not appreciated, just with less importance.

At the end of the day, it is still how an individual position himself or herself in the industry and how to choice right prospect.

However brutal it may be, I am quite sure if what u share are truth, there will be worthy people assessing them and value them if applicable. Don't be shy to share

 

[tokyofairies]

While the common understanding is foreign western countries value their engineers skill set, I don't feel local engineers are not appreciated, just with less importance.

At the end of the day, it is still how an individual position himself or herself in the industry and how to choice right prospect.

However brutal it may be, I am quite sure if what u share are truth, there will be worthy people assessing them and value them if applicable. Don't be shy to share

Same lah bro.

I know good system engineers/developers moved into sales and earning big bucks now.

 

[davidktw]

Same lah bro.

I know good system engineers/developers moved into sales and earning big bucks now.

Not the same. There is difference between less focus and not appreciated. While you may have seen engineers turn sales that are earning big bucks, that alone doesn't mean anything except that is what u have observed. It is an individual choice. Not all engineers turn sales start earning big bucks. Besides the measurement of one's achievement is far more than just monetary wealth. We all knows money is essential in life, but I have seen how it is not a measurement of achievement.

 

[axxomarketing]

Okay my company (big local company) outsources projects to China. How far do you think can developers survive here? It is race to the bottom.

 

[davidktw]

Okay my company (big local company) outsources projects to China. How far do you think can developers survive here? It is race to the bottom.

I suppose none of your in-house developers sold their lives to the current company right ?

I suppose as IT personnels, we have to really get the bigger picture then just calling technical folks as programmers. I was a mere software developer in 2004, I am still a software developer today except my scope of work is far more than just writing software day in day out. I plan for software design and I do proof of concept writing codes myself to ensure technologies that I have chosen are fit for projects. I'm a software architect or consultant today in my current company. I would daringly say my remuneration is not shabby in anyway, yet I am not wealthy to the extent of having condo and car and visit big restaurant daily for shark fins.

In terms of career and ambitious wealth, I feel it is still an up going slope for me at the moment and I don't intend to slow down yet. I would say there are no lack of people like me in the industry.

Now I don't deny programmers in the asian world has less appreciation and recognition compared to the western countries, but I don't see how it has come to the point where it warrants for a jump into the western country yet. Not yet as I believe. There are still rooms for improvement. One thing for sure is, if one is at the bottom of the food chain, be prepared to be eaten. Don't expect life to be fantastic. Hence it is a matter of how worse it can get.

If one is not satisfy with his/her returns, and one knows better that what bears in him/her is more than what is being appreciated, move up the chain or move to another ground. Don't stay put and keep moaning about how life is dreadful because you are not willing to move up the chain. I mean... seriously... construction worker wanted a manager pay but wanna stay put in the sun ? Seems very unrealistic a choice isn't it ?

I'm not trying to be rude here, just wanted people to really wakeup and look around. I seriously don't think moving to another place will make a lot of differences if one is not ambitious to work for more. Maybe one will get slightly more, but soon, the expectation will get even out and you hope for more. Then what ? Start complaining again ? It's a vicious cycle unless one is willing to move. If moving to another country gives you more leverage and more advantages, go ahead. If it's just a matter of whining that you are not appreciated here, then it will be wiser to think "WHY" ?

 

[Lbaomye]

hi guys any programmers who are working as a programmer in career. Have been working in the consulting industry for 2 years and seemed to have lost passion in this job.

Some background on me. I used to love solving programming issues and would normally feel a sense of satisfaction when a difficult task is being solved. However just feel in the working world, this would no longer apply as in the consulting world, most of the jobs are outsourced to cheaper countries so now not many people would appreciate good coding and instead price is the main factor. So most of the time you will be asked to maintain these coding from these outsourcing companies which sometimes when you debug will make you pull your hair out and most of the time have no comments or documentations.

Any programmers out there facing the same problem as me?

Yeah I do love solving those "problems" and perfect it. Making codes more efficient etc. But yeah I think it's really hard to do this line. There's no standard. Some newbs can even claim themselves professional, then when they got a client, you lose one client. And then when they rant, their web is done poorly blabla. Sigh idk what im talking but yeah it sucks. I'm a web developer ASP.NET, CMS etc.

 

[leaves]

Disagree with the comments here.
If u are good, its quite easy to move up to senior staff, lead, architect..alternatively manager.
Easily get overly $5K in 30s. More experienced $6-8K also possible. Still complain??
If want to feel appreciated, usually depends on boss and company.
Usually western companies appreciate more.