Just recently I had the privilege to attend a talk by Joel Spolsky, co-creator of Stack Overflow and creator of Fog Creek Software, and it was a fun time and it made technology somewhat interesting again. On a normal day I don't usually get to discuss technology in any way shape or form with people, even though I work for a software consulting firm. But I work in one of those companies that Joel spoke about, that treats their employees as typist more than anything really. So to be surrounded by a room full of enthusiastic developers and tech savvy people is definitely a welcomed sight.
It was a very educational hour and a half in which Joel talked about his previous employers and the problems that he noticed that he hoped to not replicate when he started Fog Creek Software. And of course, he talked about Stack Overflow, I mean how could he not. There was lots of informative tidbits about the trends and patterns that he's noticed in software development and about the current state and future of software development. So here's a quick recap, and some highlights and interesting info from that hour.
Bad Management
One thing that Joel said he noticed and tries to not have his employees do is manage like a "manager". He told a story about an A+ developer that he had working for him who's work quality slowly began to decline, and the solution that his manager had was to let that person go. Joel then asked if that employee had any personal problems causing the issue, to which the manager, had absolutely no answer, because they had no idea that this was part of the job. And of course, once again, I agree 100%. I've never worked with a manager that had any interest in anyone's personal lives but their own. I've seen people spend 30 minutes at funerals, just to rush back and get to work before their managers said anything. And this is obviously, to anyone that's remotely of the human kind, the wrong approach. People are still people regardless of the job they hold. Their pets die, they get sick and sometimes they just really hate the work that they're doing. And managers normally tend to forget that their job is to manage "people", and not just "programmers".
Not Just Software Developers Writing Programs
As it turns out, it's not just software developers using Stack Overflow on a daily basis. People in non tech fields are needing to learn programming skills in order to better do their jobs. And for sure this is true. I've worked with plenty of project managers who took SQL classes in order to analyze data for clients. And I know plenty more that spend their days Googling about Excel macros. And I'm sure there are thousands more people out there Googling things all day long in order to save some time at work and solve a problem.
Speed and Growth in Programming
Joel totally hit the nail on the head with this part of the talk. Programming is for sure becoming a much more speed oriented profession, so much so that it's becoming more accessible to more people. What used to take weeks, now takes hours, and what required college degrees now just requires a few carefully crafted search queries into Google. Just a few years ago you had to purchase physical books into order to implement API's, and now you can simply Google it, head on over to the Stack Overflow page, and copy and paste the code before your eyes. For sure it's a much easier time. But it also takes something away from the "coding" aspect of being a software developer, as the job becomes to learn more about this widget than it is to learn about how to solve the problem.
Remote Development Is The Future
I've never had the privilege to work remotely at any tech job that I've had since time started. Usually I have to be in my chair at some arbitrary set time, and have to stay until 5-6-7pm and then spend the next hour driving 8 miles. Any life that needs to be lived in between that time, is better saved for the weekend, when everything is closed. Joel, along with myself, have no idea why companies still try to enforce this rule, particularly for software development. Or a normal day, I don't usually verbally talk to anyone, aside from email and IM. But employers are untrusting from 6am to sundown, so boy, you'd better be in that chair when the boss walks in. As Joel mentioned, this is insanely limiting for both good software developers out there and for companies who are looking to hire talent, but usually save that position for someone that lives within a 20 mile radius.
Stack Overflow's Open Database
As it turns out, Stack Overflow is very very open with their data. So much so, that you can view their entire database (minus user information) for free online. You can analyze the data, or just have it to query, or whatever else you can think of that you can do with data. That's definitely an unusual step for a company to take, but one that Joel mentions has had no negative side effects besides building even trust onto the brand. Turns out Joel wasn't always a fan of this approach, as before Stack Overflow he was very much set on the idea that projects should be kept secret until launch day. I had the same mindset actually, but after hearing him out, maybe it's time to be more open.
What I Walked Away With
Joel Spolsky is definitely at the higher levels of what most software developers wish they could accomplish. He worked for large name corporations, and when he got tired of that life he started his own company and ran it with a model that fixed all the issues he noticed in the tech world. He embraced unconventional ideas, like working remotely and making his companies data public and most importantly, he saw a problem, and with help from his friend set out to solve that problem. Definitely an insightful hour that I'm glad I got to attend, as normally my job has me tied down and as such I end up not taking a part in this field that I enjoy so much. A big thanks to idiallo.com for the invite and I definitely hope there are more that I will be attending in the future.
Walter Guevara is a software engineer, startup founder and currently teaches programming for a coding bootcamp. He is currently building things that don't yet exist.
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