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The truth about software engineering
- Thread starter Syriel
- Start date
Yup, I wouldn't be completely disabled but I better hope to god I don't run into a weird issue that one single other person on StackOverflow also ran into with a half working solution cobbled together from 3 different answers. Those are the fun ones
The worst is when you find the exact same question you have, but no real answers have been posted. And then you cry
And it's always like the third one down on Google too so it gets your hopes up going in
Even worse when the person asking the question says they figured it out but didn't post the answer.
No, the worst is when the OP edits the question, "nvm, figured it out, kthxbye".
I would say this is true for the inexperienced, but once you get experience you're better served by reading the docs and trying to actually understand what you're using.
Also, it's an incredibly difficult job and there are too few who are actually skilled at it sadly.
Also, it's an incredibly difficult job and there are too few who are actually skilled at it sadly.
I rarely reference stackoverflow, at least for professional projects. A lot of what I've worked on has been proprietary and even for work that isn't, I'd rather read a blog post or an article on a topic than a terse answer that might not capture the full context of the problem (ie am I even asking the right question? or is my "problem" really a symptom of a deeper issue that I should address first or instead?).
Yeah but I don't think software engineers rely on books as much as other fields. I could be wrong though lol.
Books? Not really (at least until you get to leadership level). Documentation? Hundreds of pages a year, easily.
Paper docs? I was more so speaking on other fields having to access more physical materials as opposed to digital. Honestly I wish a lot of different industries were fully digital. A lot of information is propriety though unfortunately.
True, but it takes a while to get that experience to be at that level, at least for most people. I worked as an intern doing web development for a year and I was still shit at it by the end. Even now I've recently graduated I'm still garbage. Though for me its the actual implementation I suck at, even if I think I know what do to.
This is my job and people think I'm some kind of genius. I mean yeah you need to have some basics but other than that. Nearly every one of my problems I run into. Somebody has already had the same issue and more than likely have a solution. Or I piece together a couple half solutions to get my solution. It's part of the reason why I hate when people come to me about stuff and struggle to find answers. Lol. But maybe I am kinda smart?
Oh man that's when you really are tested.
The question is what are you trying to accomplish? There are so many languages and many overlap or have different purposes so what are you trying to do?
Its also a sign you completely transformed to management when you forget the last time you visited stackexchange...
A professor of mine really loved calling it "slack overflow".
Meanwhile, literally everyone uses it because it's dumb to just rely on your brain for everything.
Meanwhile, literally everyone uses it because it's dumb to just rely on your brain for everything.
That's the difficult part. I started with c++ and did a little bit of JavaScript. This may sound vague but the gf and I are trying to learn whatever is lucrative to get a job. This is probably not the best way to approach it.
When I went to school for (and basically failed out of) computer science, whenever I used stackoverflow I always felt like there was like one thing I was missing. Like, I'd read through an answer to something, understand it, but then have no idea how to actually implement it into my own code.
I disagree, of course if you are a junior programmer you will rely on sites stackoverflow to help you get off the ground (also bc it dominates Google search results). But as a mid-experienced developer I haven't used stackoverflow in years to help solve a problem because once you build the necessary skillset, you don't need it.
This meme of " DAE copy paste stackoverflow?" just says to me you're probably a bad programmer if you've been doing it for a long time.
This meme of " DAE copy paste stackoverflow?" just says to me you're probably a bad programmer if you've been doing it for a long time.
Keep grinding, you'll get there. It'll be a while before you get the experience to lean on docs primarily. There's nothing wrong with using stack overflow, especially when you're learning, but you'll find yourself either frustrated or less reliant on it after a while.
Yeah a lot of jobs want people to know different languages etc, a better approach would be for you all to look up jobs that sound interesting and see what they are asking for and then learn those kind of skills. I haven't looked for a new job on damn near a decade but I landed in a good place.
One recommendation I do have is look into Microsoft's learning site, I think people being skilled in office 365, power automate(flow), power bi and power apps you could make a living off of supporting MS products and most of their stuff is. Lot of low code, more configuration oriented.
OP
OP
Stack was just an example in the tweet.
Honestly, it's smart use of knowing how to find the answer (Google, docs, internal Slack, who originally wrote this ancient code and actually understands it, why didn't anyone put in ACTUAL comments, etc.).
It's also bad when the best rated answer is not the best answer. Sometimes you gotta fish for a better response.
I find myself reading the github issues section for whatever open source project I'm working with a lot more often than stack overflow these days.
They have much more detailed questions so you know if it's what you're dealing with, and answers are detailed too.
Stack overflow is great for answering quick questions and getting something to copy paste to test for those who are newer to programming, but I find it easier to search the documentation first. Often enough the top stack overflow answer is a link to the docs anyways.
They have much more detailed questions so you know if it's what you're dealing with, and answers are detailed too.
Stack overflow is great for answering quick questions and getting something to copy paste to test for those who are newer to programming, but I find it easier to search the documentation first. Often enough the top stack overflow answer is a link to the docs anyways.
You need to think more about what type of software you want to write. Do you want to work on smartphone apps, web apps, back end/platform, or embedded systems?
I would start with that decision. Front end development is more immediately rewarding and often feels like you are producing more results faster. Platform has a ton of really interesting problem solving and often requires more theory to design systems, which has its own set of rewards for people so inclined.
I should say I do this too, also look at issues in stack overflow. What sucks though is when they are closed because of no response, but they at least give you an idea of steps people have done to trouble shoot issues they have ran into.
Funny it's what I wanted to do in another life. Went to school, learned to code, went on to make some apps and games outside of school, but never felt like I as good enough to apply for any jobs. My wife is a software engineer. I still understand the logic , but lost all interest in that career path. I may jump back in as a hobby though.
In my experience engineers don't really want to solve the problem in front of them. Instead they've come up with a "clever" solution to another problem that is moderately similar they write that solution instead.
Or my favorite:
"I just read a new spec for my favorite language. Time to use every new feature everywhere I possibly can."
Or my favorite:
"I just read a new spec for my favorite language. Time to use every new feature everywhere I possibly can."
I hate how few resources there are on React on Stack. And all of the blogs are super opinionated lol.
Yep.
Even if you don't know exactly what you're trying to search, you can just put similar words or functions that does the same and you'll most likely get what you needed.