34
sejbr
5y

Hi,
I'm not a ranty person so I never actually thought I'd post anything here but here it goes.

From the beginning.
We use ancient technologies. PHP 5.2, Symfony 1.2 and a non RFC complient SOAP with NO documentation.
A year ago We've been thrown a new temporary project. An VOIP app for every OS.
That being iOS, Android, MAC, PC, Linux, Windows mobile. With a 3 month deadline. All that thrown at 4 PHP developers. The idea being that They'll take it, sign the delivery protocol, everyone happy. No more updates for the app needed. They get their funds they needed the app for and we get paid.

Fast forward to today...

Our dev team started the year with great news that We'll most likely have to create a new project. Since the amount of new features would be far greater than current feature set, we managed to finally force our boss to use newer technologies (ie. seperate backend symfony4 PHP7+/frontend react, rest api and so on). So we were ecstatic to say the least. With preestimates aimed at a minimum 3 month development period. Since we're comfortable with everything that needs to be done.
Two days later our boss came to me that one of our most annoying clients needs a new feature. Said client uses ancient version written on a napkin because They changed half of the specification 2 weaks before deadline in a software made not by a developer but some sysadmin who didn't know anything. His MVC model was practically VVV model since he even had sql queries in some views. Feature will take 3 days - fixing everything that will break in the meantime - 1-2 months.
F*** it, fine. A little overtime won't kill me.
Yesterday boss comes again... Apparently someone lost a delivery protocol for a project we ended that half a year ago. Whats even better at the time when we asked for hardware to test we never got any. When we asked about any testing enviornment - nothing. The app being SEMI-stable on everything is an overstatement but it was working on the os'es available at the time. Since the client started testing now again, it turns out that both Android app does not work on 8.1/9 and the iOS app does not work on ios12. The client obviously does not want to pay and we can do little with it without the protocol, other than rewriting the apps.
It will take months at least since all of those apps were written by people that didn't know neither the OS'es nor the languages. For example I started writing the iOS one in swift. Only to learn after half of the development time, that swift doesn't like working by C Library rules and I had to use ObjC also. With some C thrown in due to the library. 3 unknown languages, on an unknown platform in 3 months. I never had any apple device in my hand at that time nor do I intend to now. I'm astonished it worked out then. It was a clusterf**k of bad design and sticking everything together with deprecated apis and a gum. So I'll have to basically fully rewrite it.

If boss decides we'll take all those at the same time I'll f***ing jump of a bridge.

Comments
  • 9
    You need a new place to work at. Don't waste your time in your current company ...
  • 3
    @gitpush I was thinking about it. But not counting the management, the development team is great and a lot of fun to work and just hangout with. Most of the people here work only because of the atmosphere. Even sacrificing their wage to do so, since its a lot lower than at other workplaces with similar responsibilities.
  • 5
    @sejbr I've switched job three times and everytime I was like, but I like it here, the next place turns out to be as good as the one before just different people :)
  • 2
    I second what gitpush said mate. Oh and never take a hit on your wage. You loose time and money by doing this. Also a good wage is a good motivation during crunch times and similar hazards in the field. My experience so far is that changing workplaces is good. I could explain my reasoning without being a jerk in interviews as to If a company lacks a future for me I need to address the problems. As I would do with an engineering problem as well...
  • 1
    Fantastic first rant! Welcome!
  • 1
    The faster you'll leave not-that-great job, the better for your career.
    I am currently looking for a different job, because my current one does not suffice me anymore. The pay was always under the average and technical debt was high when I came here two years ago (and now is even greater). But I stayed here way too long because of the people and I feel that I need to learn way too much to switch to another one. Don't make the same mistake.
  • 1
    Sounds like the perfect storm!
  • 0
    SQL in view...
    Yes leave it 🙂 pls.....
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