One of the most salient features of our Tech Hiring culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted.
What is the biggest change in software that affected my work?
5 years ago, I would have said: we finally take usability seriously.
Today I say we are now taking seriously usability for ourselves, for the developer tools.
There is a macho culture where people love complex software, like VI or even GIT in its advanced usages.
It's complex?... No... It's powerful they say, WE are power users... but maybe you are too stupid to read the fucking manual.
I say it's even better when you don't impose the complexity on your users.
Developers too are users.
Developers too can be easily distracted from the business task they have at hand and get stuck in a rabbit hole,
with obscure configuration formats, or a cryptic error messages.
There is no silver bullet in software development,
but there are lot of opportunities to make things 1% better.
Help to prevent common mistakes.
Write clear error messages that point to a solution.
Use more empathy when you write documentation.
Those things matter.
At the end of the day we are users too and we deserve better developer tools.
Thanks, @jmfayard
! Any chance you'd be interested in calling in to record this message? It only takes a minute 😊 If so, the instructions are listed above. Thanks!
One of the most salient features of our Tech Hiring culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted.
This is often the result of bad documentation or the lack of short, concise examples. If your documentation reads like an abstract math book, that I am not interested in using your software.
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What is the biggest change in software that affected my work?
5 years ago, I would have said: we finally take usability seriously.
Today I say we are now taking seriously usability for ourselves, for the developer tools.
There is a macho culture where people love complex software, like VI or even GIT in its advanced usages.
It's complex?... No... It's powerful they say, WE are power users... but maybe you are too stupid to read the fucking manual.
I say it's even better when you don't impose the complexity on your users.
Developers too are users.
Developers too can be easily distracted from the business task they have at hand and get stuck in a rabbit hole,
with obscure configuration formats, or a cryptic error messages.
There is no silver bullet in software development,
but there are lot of opportunities to make things 1% better.
Help to prevent common mistakes.
Write clear error messages that point to a solution.
Use more empathy when you write documentation.
Those things matter.
At the end of the day we are users too and we deserve better developer tools.
Thanks, @jmfayard ! Any chance you'd be interested in calling in to record this message? It only takes a minute 😊 If so, the instructions are listed above. Thanks!
Done :)
This is often the result of bad documentation or the lack of short, concise examples. If your documentation reads like an abstract math book, that I am not interested in using your software.