Let’s talk about negativity in software engineering
You are reading Compiler, a software engineering newsletter by Triplebyte editor Daniel Bean that delivers regular reportings and rantings on the industry's top news, trends and interesting players.
Happy mid-May, everyone! For this week’s newsletter, I’m taking a break from my typical hard-hitting reporting to have a discussion. The topic: negativity in software engineering.
We recently posted a blog at Triplebyte that makes a sort of symbolic argument against the “shame-inducing” name of Git’s “blame” command. If you’re not in the know, git-blame, as it’s input, is widely used during debugging to find who is responsible for a line of problematic code. Essentially, this is a feature that’s light on subtly; if it pulls your name up, you’re the coder to blame for the bug.
Writer and software engineer Joseph Pacheco explains in this blog that the command’s “fundamentally negative” name stirred him to an unnecessary degree when he met it early in his career:
The bug itself was stressful enough. Users were being impacted by something I did. But this direct (and public) association with this shame-inducing label was the icing on the cake.
Pacheco goes on to cite some research that shows how just the presence of negative words in the workplace can stifle productivity. And other research proves that if shame creeps its way in, you can say goodbye to innovation.
Now, we all understand git-blame’s “cheeky” name was given to it by its authors all in good fun, but the joke doesn’t always translate to engineers who are fresh to the industry. And while some emotional discomfort can be a motivator for growth, even Pacheco says, needlessly negative connotation added to the otherwise productive task of having your first bugs discovered and learning from them should be done away with.
I think this argument to scrap needless negativity from software engineering, or any industry for that matter, sounds like a good one. But, as Way Spurr-Chen explained in a great (and lengthy) blog on this topic last year, it can be a fine line to walk. He thinks negativity is “embedded into our culture” and, so long as it’s properly checked, should actually play a positive role in the job of an engineer.
Discourse about programming is, above all things, extremely focused on the quality of the code written. … Negativity plays an extremely important part in programming (and human life) as a way to signal quality … It’s a signal of discernment and judiciousness or the severity of a problem.
So where does tough love or exclusionary jocularity end and stunting negativity begin in this already tough-to-crack industry? This is where you join the conversation. I want to hear your opinions, stories, or any other thoughts on the bad and good about negativity in software engineering. Leave a comment on this post or over at this blog on Triplebyte.
Like what you're reading? Share Triplebyte Compiler with a friend!
Female CS Grad Numbers Reach New Record
Seventeen years ago. That was how far back you had to go to locate the peak number of female U.S. computer science degree graduates in a single year. Until graduation data for 2018 was released this week to rip a new record, that is. With the latest numbers from Code.org showing that 14,400 women CS degree-holders marched out of college programs, the nearly two-decade dip in female participation in the educational field, which hit a low of under 5,000 in 2009, came to a close.
One point where 2003’s graduates figure still holds superiority: It represented a larger 27% of the total number of CS graduates compared to today’s 20%. That’s because male participation in CS programs have grown since 2003 to a far greater degree -- from about 36k to 59k.
Underrepresented minorities in CS degree programs, on the other hand, have seen growth in raw numbers (from about 7.5k to 13k) and percentage of all graduates (from 15% to 18%) since 2003, Code.org shows.
Quick Hits
- A new recipe for single-atom transistors may enable quantum computers with unparalleled memory and processing power. SciTechDaily
- AWS’s big bet on its new Graviton ARM chips could change the cloud (and the apps built for it). Protocol
- The pandemic is forcing Silicon Valley to rethink the interview process. Business Insider
- Python apps could soon run natively on Android devices, thanks to a new open source project called BeeWare. ZDNet
- Ten successful bloggers and developers you should follow. Better Programming
From Triplebyte
I just launched a new Triplebyte blog series called “Expert.info.” (No, I don't own that website URL. Maybe I should?) Anyhow, it's a Q & A format where I ask software professionals to go deep on a technology or work practice they use and know well. First up: Superhuman CTO Conrad Irwin on how game design can make all software better.
Triplebyte has developed some new features/products to help get engineers hired during the COVID crisis. They’re all explained in detail here, including the new “Impacted by COVID” candidate tag in our platform, the soft-launch of Triplebyte Community for software engineering jobseekers to network with colleagues, and the Triplebyte “Unternship” program we’re kicking off later in May with a free webinar on how to put together a productive summer.
Some companies hiring engineers on Triplebyte right now:
- Senior Front-End Engineer at Unit21 in San Francisco
- Data Engineer at Point in Silicon Valley
- iOS and Android Engineer at Mystro (Remote position)
- Back-End Engineer at Geneva in New York City
Check out Triplebyte’s Actively Hiring page to find more companies that are looking for software engineering talent right now!
Tech Updates
- Kite added JavaScript to its autocomplete coding tool: Available on Python for years, JavaScript programmers can now use the company’s machine learning-based “AI coding assistant” plug-in. Looks like Go is next to come!
- TypeScript 3.9 was released: This is an update mostly about “performance, polish, and stability,” Microsoft says.
Triplebyte helps engineers assess and showcase their technical skills and connects them with great opportunities. You can get started here.
Student at Fateh Telecommunication Ltd.
4 年Its too an ok destination that i tremendously savored perusing. Isn't actually day-to-day that provide the prospect to watch merchandise. <a href="https://www.fatehsoft.com/">Software House</a>
SystemaSingularityGenomeMasterInChief at DaZajn DaSeIn k. d. in illegal liquidation
4 年Usually, I don't introduce errors. Only, 1983 met foreign secret service abroad. For me was several hours like a hypnotic fight. When we started to talk about the future, at one point proposed establishment of the public domain concept and mentioned Alan Kay saying, The best future is the future you create. And Squeak to be developed with the idea of programming with painting; especially about how this time will try to corrupt the produce after Squeak would integrate the painting programed. Just to see it decomposed as a way to inspect and study it. And did not quite get the point of publishing in my head. Just two days after it dumped core, had read in news there was a tsunami in Indonesia, so I sobered up, only mistakes introduced could not be removed. It's no wonder all recommendations on LinkedIn about Smalltalk were retracted.
Electrician at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
4 年okay good I am Graduated from electrical ENG
Senior DevOps Engineer with over 25 years of experience leading diverse software development projects. 5x AWS Certified
4 年I think that this is a bit over-sensitive. I’ve been accosted (lol) with git-blame in the past... the name of the command is hardly the biggest problem I’ve faced. I’ve never been offended by “hey you f’ed up. Now fix it”