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  • teftef@mastodon.social
    Oct 8, 2026, 7:54 AM

    perhaps the most universal experience of a professional software engineer is making preparations for failure and having them ignored by management, only to them to find out the hard way

    alas, you didn't end up looking smart but made other people feel stupid, so you won't get listened to next time

    without a union, a professional body, or legal consequence for negligence, software engineering will continue to go fast, and only examine consequences after the preventable accident

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Replies

  • teftef@mastodon.social
    Oct 8, 2026, 7:57 AM

    anyway, i guess the other, potentially more important moral is this: you might not get listened to, but you can still speak out, and sometimes you can stop an accident from happening

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  • Wolf480plwolf480pl@mstdn.io
    Oct 8, 2026, 7:46 PM

    @tef
    I heard that if you point out a problem to the management in private, so that they don't end up looking stupid when your prediction materializes, it increases the chance you will be listened to next time. Haven't tried that tho.

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  • econadseconads@mendeddrum.org
    Oct 9, 2026, 5:42 AM

    @tef I prefer saying I'm not done until it's fixed, if I can get away with it. I rather communicate less sometimes. I'm very bad at that but I'm working on it.

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  • Khleedrilkhleedril@cyberplace.social
    Oct 8, 2026, 9:06 AM

    @tef I don't think management ever feel stupid. They always take the non-culpable stance and put accidents down to unavoidable business losses. They move on up, we stay stuck.

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  • David Ginndavid@social.piconet.work
    Oct 8, 2026, 9:59 AM

    @tef Liability isn’t even a concern anymore. They’ll just deny responsibility and hold people up from getting to the truth with red tape.

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  • jsecurejsecure@skyhaven.social
    Oct 8, 2026, 11:42 AM

    @tef I feel like a lot of non software companies, there is always a tug of war between promising them what they want, and getting what you need. I would regularly pad the estimate for projects by a week each project, and use that time to address long standing tech debt

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  • econadseconads@mendeddrum.org
    Oct 9, 2026, 5:43 AM

    @jsecure yep, this is the way. Just do it don't ask permission. We are writing the code so we need to make sure it works. Management has organisational skills that we don't necessarily have, but they don't usually have the skills to understand, so don't bother. "No one is coming over the mountain" and sitting there complaining about it doesn't fix anything.
    @tef

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  • Brian Gordonelasticsoul@mastodon.social
    Oct 8, 2026, 12:25 PM

    @tef

    There's a similar dynamic in play for Covid and climate change and many other things. People with big egos insist on being 'leaders,' but without humility they won't listen to others and will in fact suppress people who 'made them feel stupid.'

    "alas, you didn't end up looking smart but made other people feel stupid, so you won't get listened to next time"

    #narcissism

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  • Dandank@jorts.horse
    Oct 8, 2026, 4:14 PM

    @tef this is an underappreciated benefit of unions, for sure

    having a collective voice is not only beneficial for negotiating remuneration and benefits, it's also hugely helpful for for setting a baseline for conduct and how work is handled

    professional bodies are definitely helpful and i would love to have an engineer ring. but it's hard to know how much leverage they have on employers to make sure standards are followed and folks who follow them or refuse to do unethical work aren't punished

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