> When programmers come to me and simply say “this code does not work,” I send them away. Their problem is not solvable by me or anyone.
When people come to me and say that, I ask "in what way doesn't it work?" and figure out how to help them.
When people come to me and say that, I ask "in what way doesn't it work?" and figure out how to help them.
I feel like if you really are working with people who are total caricatures of cargo-culting code monkeys, and you see yourself as a Guru holding court and suffering the wailing of ignorant petitioners only so long as they are able to dig deep within themselves and attempt to rise to Your level for the duration of the conversation, you have only yourself to blame. Blogs posted from high horseback are just masturbation (who knows, maybe you secretly like being surrounded by people who don't make you feel challenged).
In more reasonable language... if you have put yourself in the position of being the most senior or most effective employee on your team by a very wide margin, you are going to have this sort of experience. You can either try to help the more junior/less effective folks improve themselves, or go find something else, or just put up with it.
An article on the best ways to convey the answer to the question "in what way does it not work" seems a good start.
Yes the tone is obnoxious, but the advice is good.
And frankly, I think he's right.
But sometimes the medium is the message.
- tiny little meaningless creature on a stone somewhere in universe