I managed a high-functioning C++ image processing group for 25 years. I kept senior-level engineers on staff for decades.
We tended to write "engine code." Like pipelines and whatnot.
The company had a very (very) long tradition of engineering (Like, 100 years).
There were many downsides to the way they worked (over-structured, mostly), but they always gave my team and me a great deal of respect.
They didn't use contractors very often.
To this day, design quality, code quality, product quality, documentation, and focus on deliverable are the major cornerstones of my software work, but I am shocked at how little that matters to modern development shops. It's been a really disheartening experience.
I guess I was in a silo of quality-focus, all those years. They would treat very minor bugs like extinction-level emergencies (not fun).
> but I am shocked at how little that matters to modern development shops. It's been a really disheartening experience.
Modern development shops operate in a hyper competitive environment with razor thin margins. Unfortunately, great documentation is often the last thing that's prioritized for such shops.
Personally, I think this is a HUGE mistake; talented technical writers are in good supply and should be hired by any development shop to improve adoption of their product. HOWEVER, as a developer, the shop will prefer that you work on features rather than documentation.
Not NYC. Long Island, but headquartered in Tokyo. I’m avoiding directly naming them, so I don’t have to deal with any agita, but they make photographic equipment, and are a household name.
We tended to write "engine code." Like pipelines and whatnot.
The company had a very (very) long tradition of engineering (Like, 100 years).
There were many downsides to the way they worked (over-structured, mostly), but they always gave my team and me a great deal of respect.
They didn't use contractors very often.
To this day, design quality, code quality, product quality, documentation, and focus on deliverable are the major cornerstones of my software work, but I am shocked at how little that matters to modern development shops. It's been a really disheartening experience.
I guess I was in a silo of quality-focus, all those years. They would treat very minor bugs like extinction-level emergencies (not fun).