[OT] Extra time spent

[H. S. Teoh via Digitalmars-d]

On Wed, Jun 04, 2014 at 01:57:13PM -0400, Nick Sabalausky via Digitalmars-d wrote:
> On 6/4/2014 7:59 AM, Dejan Lekic wrote:
> >
> >I humbly believe programmer who does not spend spare time reading
> >literature related to his/her work is most likely going to lose the
> >job at some point, as people who DO spend time in their
> >self-education will take the place.
> >
> 
> I know from direct observational experience that, depending on the
> company, keeping one's job (or even getting one in the first place) is
> not always dependent on one's ability to actually do the job at all.
> 
> (Heck, I've tutored CS 101 students, and even still: the worst code
> I've ever seen by far was NOT beginners, but was production code
> written by professionals whose jobs were nowhere near the chopping
> block.)

Actually, seasoned coders are often some of the worst offenders when it
comes to writing bad code. The accumulation of uncorrected bad habits
over time, plus the arrogance that comes from seniority, sometimes make
this problem uncorrectable. They will continue writing bad code out of
pure habit, and have enough seniority to insist that it's the right way
to do things, even if it's blatantly wrong.

Newbie coders, OTOH, are still malleable and any bad habits or poor
coding practices still stand a chance of being corrected, given the
proper coaching. Plus, they don't have seniority and so will actually
listen when you correct them.

Of course, seasoned coders do have hard-earned experience that newbies
don't have, and this can make them very valuable in spite of their
flaws.


> That said, you're certainly right that continual self-education is
> very important (even if one's job isn't on the line).

If *I* were ever in a position to hire, I'd say that reluctance to
continue learning is a sign that I probably don't want to hire that
person.


T

-- 
Tech-savvy: euphemism for nerdy.