A new Developmestuction environment is born



  • I recently started a new job. It all seemed reasonable on the interview. They had a pretty standard setup: development, test, qa and prod, and the expected test-and-migrate procedures. Then the chief architect decides that we don't need [i]separate[/i] environments; we should merge our environments so we have less to manage. No more separate prod, qa and test: put them all together and just have one environment ("we will just filter out the transactions put through by developers and testers when we run our reports").

    Mind you, this is not some web-based system; it's a high-speed transaction processing system. All we need is one developer to make an incorrect implementation of the wrong thing and deploy it to "test-qa-prod" and prod gets wiped out. Sheesh.

    Reasoning failed, pleading failed, a link to the Developmestuction defacto reference guide failed. 

    It appears I will be leaving shortly. 

    *sighs* 



  • Run... run and never look back.



  • At least wait it out until the inevitable occurs so you have another good story to tell us.



  • Actually, I already have several as this happened rather quickly, and the boss decided we should "get it done yesterday".

    I"d just prefer to tell them after I'm working somewhere else (hopefully next week). 

    The best so far is the looming (significant) DB change. Prod will be using the old layout until the new stuff migrates from test through qa to prod. I already raised the red flag. I was told not to be so negative. We can just put dual handlers in the code until after the migration, and then remove the old code afterward. 

    Oh and BTW, the system needs to be brought down for 15-20 minutes to do an upgrade, so our prod environment will be up and down during the day (every time any developer wants to migrate a change). Maybe enough customers will leave so it won't matter. 

    *fun* 



  • @skippy said:

    At least wait it out until the inevitable occurs so you have another good story to tell us.

     

    Agreed... and make sure it fails spectacularly, and make sure you get it on video.

     

    Here's just one possible idea:  set up a Rube Goldberg machine which ends with one of those little plastic drinking birds hitting your enter key to run the query which will completely wipe out the database.  Make a big button which starts this machine.  Mark the button "Do not push!"  Make sure you set the camera up beforehand, though.  If you wait until afterwards you might not get the camera set up before someone pushes the damned thing.



  • Heh, I figure a major crash and burn is due sometime tomorrow morning.



  • Where I work, they just recently introduced these environments:

    - development (every developer's pc)
    - integration test (some unix box)
    - system test (another unix box)
    - acceptance test (yet another unix box)
    - production (a unix cluster)
    - and, last but not least: demonstration show case (a laptop for sales people)
     

    by the way: we are hiring... 



  • @Foosball Girl In My Dreams said:

    Heh, I figure a major crash and burn is due sometime tomorrow morning.

    And your voluntary unemployment starts 15 minutes later yes? 



  • @TheRider said:

    Where I work, they just recently introduced these environments:

    - development (every developer's pc)
    - integration test (some unix box)
    - system test (another unix box)
    - acceptance test (yet another unix box)
    - production (a unix cluster)
    - and, last but not least: demonstration show case (a laptop for sales people)
     

    by the way: we are hiring... 

    That actually sounds decent.  So, hiring?  What city? 



  • @KattMan said:

    That actually sounds decent.  So, hiring?  What city? 

    May be a little far away. Ask for the country -- it's Switzerland  :) 



  • Cool. Don't you get some 6 or 8 weeks of vacation over there?

     

     



  • @unklegwar said:

    Cool. Don't you get some 6 or 8 weeks of vacation over there?

     

    Only in my dreams...  :-D

    I have 5 



  • Try 2 at my last employment. It went to 3 after 10 years (or so I was told, never stuck around long enough to find out)



  • @TheRider said:

    @unklegwar said:

    Cool. Don't you get some 6 or 8 weeks of vacation over there?

     

    Only in my dreams...  :-D

    I have 5 

    As far as us North Americans are concerned (Canada here), that still makes you a jackass. 

     

    We can only dream of so much vacation time 



  • @bobday said:

    @TheRider said:
    @unklegwar said:

    Cool. Don't you get some 6 or 8 weeks of vacation over there?

     

    Only in my dreams...  :-D

    I have 5 

    As far as us North Americans are concerned (Canada here), that still makes you a jackass. 

     

    We can only dream of so much vacation time 

    As far as my limited english goes, "jackass" is a verbal slander. Was your intention to insult me? If so, would you care to explain why? How can the fact that european employers seem to be more generous than north american ones be a reason to stab at a lowly employee?



  • National law in Switzerland requires 4 weeks of vacation minimum for employees. Some (such as mine) go a little higher. As a fringe benefit, so to speak.



  • @TheRider said:

    As far as my limited english goes, "jackass" is a verbal slander. Was your intention to insult me? If so, would you care to explain why? How can the fact that european employers seem to be more generous than north american ones be a reason to stab at a lowly employee?

     In this case he's jokingly insulting you because he's jealous of your vacation time.  Jackass is a strange term to use (I would have gone with "5 weeks?  YOU BASTARD") but I guess maybe it's a Canuck thing.
     



  • @TheRider said:

    As far as my limited english goes, "jackass" is a verbal slander. Was your intention to insult me? If so, would you care to explain why? How can the fact that european employers seem to be more generous than north american ones be a reason to stab at a lowly employee?

    You need to understand that as victims of a rabidly capitalist society, most Americans only get 6 hours of holiday a year (before deducting toilet breaks) so they can only sit and gnash their teeth in impotent rage as they hear about our idyllic lives in this European socialist paradise.

    Now if you'll excuse me, I have another skiing trip in the Alps to plan.

    (I think he's just teasing you ;) )

     



  • Agreed.  We're all just bitter because we have to work 7 years to qualify for 4 weeks vacation and you get that right out the box. (7yrs is law I believe in the Province of Alberta in Canada... not sure about the rest of the country)



  • @Devi said:

    (I think he's just teasing you ;) ) 

    Oh, Ok. Sorry for being a little bit too touchy, then.



  • @Devi said:

    You need to understand that as victims of a rabidly capitalist society, most Americans only get 6 hours of holiday a year (before deducting toilet breaks) so they can only sit and gnash their teeth in impotent rage as they hear about our idyllic lives in this European socialist paradise.

    On the bright side, Americans earn about twice as much as Europeans for equivalent work in IT while the cost of living is less. In a recent international survey on cost of living, the most expensive place in US is NYC, ranked #15, after Oslo, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Zürich, London, Stockholm, Basel, Paris, Geneva, Lugano, Helsinki, Dublin, Vienna; second is Chicago at #16. Third most expensive is LA, ranked #35, below all major European cities.



  • [incorrect information. Delete timeout expired]



  • @JvdL said:

    On the bright side, Americans earn about twice as much as Europeans for equivalent work in IT while the cost of living is less. In a recent international survey on cost of living, the most expensive place in US is NYC, ranked #15, after Oslo, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Zürich, London, Stockholm, Basel, Paris, Geneva, Lugano, Helsinki, Dublin, Vienna; second is Chicago at #16. Third most expensive is LA, ranked #35, below all major European cities.

    I always had a feeling we were being ripped off here in the Europe... although having said that, it could be perfectly normal paranoia, everyone in the universe has that.

    To be honest, though, if given the choice between staying here (and having 5 weeks holiday) and going to the USA (where I could probably earn more and, by what you've said, have a lower cost of living), I think I'd choose living here!



  • A quick update.

    It's now "the next day", and as predicted, the new environment just blew up. The plan was to make all modules that have different test/qa/prod code look something like this:

    if (running in test) {
       test code
    } else if (running in qa) {
       qa code
    } else {
       prod code
    }

    Naturally, someone migrated something from development did a straight merge - instead of doing the manual cut-n-paste from their local copy into the correct if-else block. boom

    One of my counterparts at one of our customers happens to know me personally. Since the support lines were jammed, he called me on my cell. I quietly explained what happened, that there was nothing I could do, and that if it were my code this was being integrated into, that I would create several insulating layers so that the releases weren't tied together, and that this could be restarted without crashing my application.

    sigh 



  • Now that was fast. Did you have to poke it before it blew up, or didn't you even have to help?



  • It didn't need my help - it happened all on it's own. From directive-from-above to implementation was 2 days. The very next check in was the problem. The architect is writing it off as "it's ok, the developer isn't used to the new procedures yet - it'll smooth out once folks get used to it!"

    I love what I do, if only for the sheer entertainment of it.

    Mommy:  Johnny, don't kick the dog
    Johnny: <kick>
    Mommy:  Johnny, don't kick the dog
    Johnny: <kick>
    Mommy:  <quietly waits="">
    Johnny: <kick>
    <snarl>
    <quick gnashing="" of="" teeth=""></quick></snarl></kick></quietly></kick></kick>How can you not laugh?
    


  • @Foosball Girl In My Dreams said:

    It didn't need my help - it happened all on it's own. From directive-from-above to implementation was 2 days. The very next check in was the problem. The architect is writing it off as "it's ok, the developer isn't used to the new procedures yet - it'll smooth out once folks get used to it!"

    I love what I do, if only for the sheer entertainment of it.

    Mommy:  Johnny, don't kick the dog
    Johnny: *kick*
    Mommy:  Johnny, don't kick the dog
    Johnny: *kick*
    Mommy:  *quietly waits for it*
    Johnny: *kick*
    *snarl*
    *bite*
    

    How can you not laugh?

    Rats - it got mangled in the edit, then timed out - fixed above in quote



  • @Foosball Girl In My Dreams said:

    A quick update.

    It's now "the next day", and as predicted, the new environment just blew up. The plan was to make all modules that have different test/qa/prod code look something like this:

    if (running in test) {
    test code
    } else if (running in qa) {
    qa code
    } else {
    prod code
    }

    Naturally, someone migrated something from development did a straight merge - instead of doing the manual cut-n-paste from their local copy into the correct if-else block. boom

    Wow.  And no one else there thought this might be a bad idea?


     



  • @cconroy said:

    @Foosball Girl In My Dreams said:

    A quick update.

    It's now "the next day", and as predicted, the new environment just blew up. The plan was to make all modules that have different test/qa/prod code look something like this:

    if (running in test) {
    test code
    } else if (running in qa) {
    qa code
    } else {
    prod code
    }

    Naturally, someone migrated something from development did a straight merge - instead of doing the manual cut-n-paste from their local copy into the correct if-else block. boom

    Wow.  And no one else there thought this might be a bad idea?

    It's a fairly small shop - 5 developers (including me) + the "architect/boss. The other 4 developers are 1-2 years out of school, and pretty much do what they're told.

    I voiced my opinion and made a reasonably eloquent argument (with specific examples) as to why it wasn't wise, but was quickly and decisively overruled by the boss.

    At that point, it became clear that the best course of action was to a) shut up, b) quietly get another job (called friend, expecting offer tomorrow), and c) do what I had to do to keep the paycheck coming in until the other position starts and I can walk out of here. I would have preferred to laugh in his face when he made the edict, and walked out right then, but when you have kids, you wait until you are ready to walk out before laughing in their face.



  • @JvdL said:

    On the bright side, Americans earn about twice as much as Europeans for equivalent work in IT while the cost of living is less. In a recent international survey on cost of living, the most expensive place in US is NYC, ranked #15, after Oslo, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Zürich, London, Stockholm, Basel, Paris, Geneva, Lugano, Helsinki, Dublin, Vienna; second is Chicago at #16. Third most expensive is LA, ranked #35, below all major European cities.

    True, you pay alot less income tax as well. My friend is from Florida and he was filling in his tax return, and he had to pay like 18% or something. My tax starts at 34% and just goes up from there... On the upside, Dutch law requires you to be paid for your vacation days twice, so when I take vacation I get paid as if I were working, and then every year I get extra money that's equivalent to a full days pay for every day of holiday I was entitled to. Or something like that anyways, I'm English and the whole system is a mystery to me, I just look at it as if I get paid for 13 months in the year even though I only work 11 :)



  • @Foosball Girl In My Dreams said:

    It's a fairly small shop - 5 developers (including me) + the "architect/boss. The other 4 developers are 1-2 years out of school, and pretty much do what they're told.

    I voiced my opinion and made a reasonably eloquent argument (with specific examples) as to why it wasn't wise, but was quickly and decisively overruled by the boss.

    At that point, it became clear that the best course of action was to a) shut up, b) quietly get another job (called friend, expecting offer tomorrow), and c) do what I had to do to keep the paycheck coming in until the other position starts and I can walk out of here. I would have preferred to laugh in his face when he made the edict, and walked out right then, but when you have kids, you wait until you are ready to walk out before laughing in their face.

    That's horrible, if it had happened to me I'd have been tempted to go over his head to the next in command to try and sort it out. The guy's obviously demented and his mistake is probably going to cost the company alot in terms of time, business and reputation. Of course, office politics was never my strong point, so that might just get me branded as a trouble maker or something...



  • @JvdL said:

    @Devi said:

    You need to understand that as victims of a rabidly capitalist society, most Americans only get 6 hours of holiday a year (before deducting toilet breaks) so they can only sit and gnash their teeth in impotent rage as they hear about our idyllic lives in this European socialist paradise.

    On the bright side, Americans earn about twice as much as Europeans for equivalent work in IT while the cost of living is less. In a recent international survey on cost of living, the most expensive place in US is NYC, ranked #15, after Oslo, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Zürich, London, Stockholm, Basel, Paris, Geneva, Lugano, Helsinki, Dublin, Vienna; second is Chicago at #16. Third most expensive is LA, ranked #35, below all major European cities.

     

    eh??? So why is it that when I was working in San Francisco for 125K ($) p.a. I had a lifestyle somewhat lousier than when I worked in London for 50k sterling? - oh yeah, 5000$ a month in taxes (state and federal) - I guess somebody has to pay that 470 billion dollar defence budget - and god forbid it would have to be a rich texas oilman.



  • @zedhex said:

    @JvdL said:
    @Devi said:

    You need to understand that as victims of a rabidly capitalist society, most Americans only get 6 hours of holiday a year (before deducting toilet breaks) so they can only sit and gnash their teeth in impotent rage as they hear about our idyllic lives in this European socialist paradise.

    On the bright side, Americans earn about twice as much as Europeans for equivalent work in IT while the cost of living is less. In a recent international survey on cost of living, the most expensive place in US is NYC, ranked #15, after Oslo, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Zürich, London, Stockholm, Basel, Paris, Geneva, Lugano, Helsinki, Dublin, Vienna; second is Chicago at #16. Third most expensive is LA, ranked #35, below all major European cities.

     

    eh??? So why is it that when I was working in San Francisco for 125K ($) p.a. I had a lifestyle somewhat lousier than when I worked in London for 50k sterling? - oh yeah, 5000$ a month in taxes (state and federal) - I guess somebody has to pay that 470 billion dollar defence budget - and god forbid it would have to be a rich texas oilman.

    Because you didn't have 5 weeks holiday!

    And you lived in silicon valley renting a closet for $3000/month.

    Didn't you know in SF you have to get out of the closet?
     



     



  • @zedhex said:

    @JvdL said:

    On the bright side, Americans earn about twice as much as Europeans for equivalent work in IT while the cost of living is less. In a recent international survey on cost of living, the most expensive place in US is NYC, ranked #15, after Oslo, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Zürich, London, Stockholm, Basel, Paris, Geneva, Lugano, Helsinki, Dublin, Vienna; second is Chicago at #16. Third most expensive is LA, ranked #35, below all major European cities.

    eh??? So why is it that when I was working in San Francisco for 125K ($) p.a. I had a lifestyle somewhat lousier than when I worked in London for 50k sterling? - oh yeah, 5000$ a month in taxes (state and federal) - I guess somebody has to pay that 470 billion dollar defence budget - and god forbid it would have to be a rich texas oilman.

    Because despite what the numbers look like they say after the US government has massaged them, the effective quality of life when doing the same job is slightly lower in the US than it is in Europe.

    In this particular case, they're playing fast and loose with how they measure hours worked. US IT workers with high salaries are expected to work long hours of unpaid overtime. In these figures, they only count the ~40 hours per week that the employee gets paid for - so the per-hour rate seems to be much higher than the workers are really getting.

    The "cost of living" surveys are usually nonsense. You have to simultaneously compute income, expenditure, and cost of effective wealth ("how much money you have to pay to get the things you really want"), for each location - you can't do it piecemeal and get a meaningful answer. For example, living in Zurich or London everything costs significantly more than it would in other cities in those parts of the world, but the people working in those cities get paid correspondingly more, so it all balances out.

    It's true that tax rates in the US are somewhat lower, but you have to realise that we're talking about 75% taxation rather than the 80% that most of the world runs at, so the difference is not huge, and the extra cost of goods and services more than outweighs it (notably things like health insurance). 



  • @zedhex said:

    @JvdL said:
    @Devi said:

    You need to understand that as victims of a rabidly capitalist society, most Americans only get 6 hours of holiday a year (before deducting toilet breaks) so they can only sit and gnash their teeth in impotent rage as they hear about our idyllic lives in this European socialist paradise.

    On the bright side, Americans earn about twice as much as Europeans for equivalent work in IT while the cost of living is less. In a recent international survey on cost of living, the most expensive place in US is NYC, ranked #15, after Oslo, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Zürich, London, Stockholm, Basel, Paris, Geneva, Lugano, Helsinki, Dublin, Vienna; second is Chicago at #16. Third most expensive is LA, ranked #35, below all major European cities.

     

    eh??? So why is it that when I was working in San Francisco for 125K ($) p.a. I had a lifestyle somewhat lousier than when I worked in London for 50k sterling? - oh yeah, 5000$ a month in taxes (state and federal) - I guess somebody has to pay that 470 billion dollar defence budget - and god forbid it would have to be a rich texas oilman.

    Yeah, but at least you got rid of all those weapons of mass destruction that Saddam had. Oh, wait a minute... 


Log in to reply