Comment by kirse | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kirse | Hacker News Reader

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they are often just working a day job.

I used to be snooty about this too until I had a member join one of my teams who is exactly this type of person... Treats it like a day job, and absolutely rips through well-defined coding tasks as long as I do the general solution-finding and lay the architectural groundwork ahead of time. They don't burn out either, because it's just work to them and they take regular vacations.

They're not my go-to for solving architectural-type problems (solution-finding as you call it), but I'm OK with that because their strengths lie elsewhere in terms of discipline, focus, training JR team members in coding practices, knowledge of SW project process, etc. Every team needs its brick-layers who can work hard and follow blueprints really well, and not all of those brick-layers are going to be architects. One of my biggest work-related lessons out of 2016 really.

I've never seen a good architecture that wasn't largely by the single individual who started and initially wrote a project.

One man writes a novel. One man writes a symphony. It is essential that one man make a film. -Kubrick

I often use this argument in situations where people are discussing system architecture.

Out of curiosity, how did you get this person on your team, since it doesn't sound like you were open to the idea until after the fact.

They were passed to me as a "here, I've got this person who needs work." It's not so much that I wasn't open to it as I generally just assumed finding semi-clones of myself (passionate about all-things computing, spends time outside of work on projects, etc) was the right way to build a team. The more teams I lead the more I realize how wrong that is, it's like trying to build a human body out of all eyes or hands.

That's a great insight. Thanks for sharing.

What's with the vacation shaming?

I think your parent meant it as more of a "They get their stuff done and don't need to skip on vacations to do it". Perhaps a sign of better balance but still productive?

They don't burn out either, because it's just work to them and they take regular vacations.

Where's the vacation shaming?

Solid lesson. Thank you for sharing this.

Everyone I know that "treats it like a day job" falls down on keeping their skills up to date. This is a tough field and to do it well, you are studying a lot.

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