Stubbornness
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It's been quite a while since I visited here, but I wanted to share a story about one of my predecessors at work. I've never known him personally, and this story does not have a happy ending – which is often the case on TheDailyWTF, but this time, not in the way you'd probably think.
So the title of this is "stubbornness". You probably know the type. who believe that their way is not only the best; nay, it's the only way. Like I said, I've never known him, but his code tells me a lot about him.
He did everything himself. Security system? Check. Logging framework? Ditto. Have a standard component in Java Swing? He'd subclass it.
The application that he wrote and that I'm maintaining is impressive from a functional point of view, but the way it's been developed... oh boy. Composition over inheritance? Uh-uh. Avoidance of static variables? Nope. Using Spring framework? That would mean using an industry standard, so nope, sorry.
I'll fix it, but it'll take time.
The story doesn't end there, though. His stubbornness went further than just programming. One day, he had a motorcycle accident. He survived, and in fact went back to work. But his colleagues saw him fading away.
Now, we have universal free healthcare where we live. But there are budget constraints, waiting lists, etc. So they told him, look, you have a private health insurance. Why don't you go and see a private doctor? No, he said, if the system fails, I want to show that it fails. So he went to see a specialist every three months, they didn't find anything, and sent him on his way.
Eventually, six months after the accident, he went to see a private doctor. This doctor told him that he knew exactly what was wrong, and wanted him to visit hospital in a week's time.
He never made it to that appointment. He died.
And when I look at his code, I can completely understand it. This must have been a person who was either incapable or unwilling to look further than his own set of beliefs.
I don't really want to put a conclusion or a moral to this; all in all, it's just sad. And all the more sad, because it was avoidable.
The only thing I can say is: you're not the best programmer in the world. If you want to become better, use what is shared, and share by yourself.
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@Severity_One said in Stubbornness:
It's been quite a while since I visited here
It sure has. Welcome back!
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In some important ways, I'm that guy. Luckily I survived with little permanent damage. Which means my co-workers still have to deal with my stubbornness
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I wanted to say "press F to pay respects" but then I remembered that's the industry standard, and hence it's bad.
Should I say "press 🅱️ to pay respects" instead?
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@Severity_One said in Stubbornness:
you're not the best programmer in the world
But do try to be above average (specifically, above the median). The profusion of poor programmers in big contracting firms make this easier.
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@Severity_One said in Stubbornness:
The application that he wrote and that I'm maintaining is impressive from a functional point of view, but the way it's been developed... oh boy. Composition over inheritance? Uh-uh. Avoidance of static variables? Nope. Using Spring framework? That would mean using an industry standard, so nope, sorry.
I'll fix it, but it'll take time.Does it work? Is it broken? Then don't fix it.
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@levicki said in Stubbornness:
then would he really make an appointment for him in a week instead of like today or tomorrow?
Maybe. I apparently have stage two fatty liver disease. My next appointment is in half a year.
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@Tsaukpaetra said in Stubbornness:
@levicki said in Stubbornness:
then would he really make an appointment for him in a week instead of like today or tomorrow?
Maybe. I apparently have stage two fatty liver disease. My next appointment is in half a year.
Oi. Excuse the garage content, but the forums have told me that only us Commie Europeans have to wait for appointments, while you guys literally don’t have any waiting times, ever.
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@topspin Wasn't clear that it was a wait time. My dentist appointment is in half a year, because my most recent one was yesterday.
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@pie_flavor But that’s because you schedule a regular interval. I may be wrong, but I read that as him having to wait.
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@topspin said in Stubbornness:
while you guys literally don’t have any waiting times, ever.
When they're rich. America has the best everything if they pay enough money.
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@topspin said in Stubbornness:
I read that as him having to wait.
No, I can probably get another appointment in... perhaps two weeks. But he's not going to say anything (different) at all.
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@topspin said in Stubbornness:
I read that as him having to wait.
If the consultant thought it was non-critical, Mr Stubborn would be having to wait with all the other non-critical cases (whose rate of processing depends on the number of critical cases being processed at that point). Consultant might've got that wrong, of course.
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@dkf said in Stubbornness:
@Severity_One said in Stubbornness:
you're not the best programmer in the world
But do try to be above average (specifically, above the median). The profusion of poor programmers
in big contracting firmsmake this easier.FTFY
