I actually just wanted to say - what a great time it is to be a developer.

C# has stolen so many good features now that it's pretty awesome.
JavaScript and typescript are really fun to work with.
I really love angular.
Docker is great!

I can setup pipelines and deploy an angular app for free and really easily with github-pages.

I can use linux inside windows.

I can use cloud providers to do all sorts for really cheap.

I can plug my cable-free oculus quest VR headset into my laptop and build a game pretty easily with unity (thanks to all the great oculus helper prefabs).

I can use tesseract and data science technology inside my browser!!

And I can go to medium and udemy and learn all sorts of things.

Honestly...

Just saying.
I'm actually really loving being a developer right now.

And if I do have off day, I can rant on here!

This is definitely a total first world problem but I am so frustrated.

I am stuck in a team that embodies the Japanese proverb "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down".

The management are there because it is convenient and flexible and have no interest in managing or keeping up with tech.
The lead developers are extremely anti-social and are not approachable and the this stems down to the devs (not all but really most) - all there just to do the bare minimum and spend most of their energies in trying to avoid work or having learn something.

Unfortunately I am passionate about what I do and want to build high-quality products and this has put me at odds with the way things work.

I could fill up alot of time talking about how I was ordered to "cut" images/icons out of PDFs rather just getting them from the branding team, or how I was scolded for having set up logging, detected a problem caused by another developer and fixed it before it cost a big client a massive amount of money... But really the point is that I have never worked somewhere with such an awful attitude to enthusiasm and quite frankly it boggles my mind trying to understand how they rationalise these things but the answer is always laziness.

Obviously there are worse problems in the world than working in a job where you are encouraged to do nothing... But it actually really depresses me and causes anxiety that I am working with people who don't care about testing or monitoring or learning new things or even collaboration.

...sigh...

Hopefully the job market will start opening again soon

Has anyone actually managed to create an article through the apple news api? I'm finding it near impossible to work with - where the hell is the proper documentation?! Or even a single proper tutorial?! I can get my channel info in python 3.4 but creating an article all I ever get is just "INVALID" - what exactly is invalid with what I'm sending?!

Apple news api - why are you only returning 401s in my c# calls when in my python calls you return a correct response? What small detail am I missing goddamnit!

Manager: "yeah so thanks for understanding we can't give you a payrise, by the way we need you to train the new guy we just hired who is your senior because even though he is more experienced than you as a c# dev he doesn't understand what an object is"

Me...

f*ckin iis making my application pool .net framework v2 by default! damn you!

so I'm in a quandary, I'm in a place that gives me lots of freedom and the room and respect to implement my ideas and i get lots of praise but the pay is not very good and the technology is old, i have quite a few opportunities to move for much more money, better technology and training and guidance but then i would not get so much freedom.

I'm a mid-level full-stack c# but I'm spending more time in meetings and writing business cases/documentation than i am coding these days plus i have noone to teach me better practices or tell me off for sloppy code apart from myself.
i would like to stay in my current place - they have been very good to me and are pushing to meet my needs but i will be putting in a lot of effort by myself to push the technology forward.
i enjoy the challenges but i want to make sure my coding skills are always improving.

so I'm thinking either stay and force myself to spend time creating personal git projects / work on open source, or just leave.

also any recommendations on open source projects to get started on?

was super tired yesterday and manager asked me if everything is ok, i ended up telling her way more than i should have about basically that I'm looking for other jobs... damn it why did i do that?!

I've been a programmer a few years now and i still haven't had to magically fly through a virtual city by typing furiously at my keyboard

when all else fails, i cast infinite focus using my amulet of loudmusic and scroll of redbull

That moment when you explain to your manager what the term "full-stack" means and next thing you know you've gone from being a "backend c#" to azure migration expert/dba/designer/api architect/network engineer/php wordpress developer... let's go back to when you'd never heard of full-stack

When I'm really really stuck, I generally stress out that I should be able to figure it out so I walk outside, sit down, listen to relaxing music and imagine I'm on some isolated mountain somewhere away from all the problems of deadlines and managers and algorithms...then i just write down what i need to do and what i have done already and have a little brainstorm session with myself over possible causes/solutions from sensible to crazy, just anything possible... generally I always come to 2 methods - divide and conquer and document and destroy (the latter being used in cases such as having to fix something in an undocumented 10,000s lines long sproc that someone who left the company wrote)

God damn it, i said so many times that this functionality is proof of concept and needs more investigation into technical/legal details...why the flugzeug mr account manager have you gone and emailed all your client accounts telling them we are now offering it?... why are you messaging me starting your sentence with "now that we provide..." god...damn...it

when your IT policy means that you have to submit a tech request for each nuget package you know you're in for a long day

Is it just i have bad luck or do all developers by the time they get to lead just stop caring?
my leads always seem to be the least team-focused members of the group.

nothing like building a lead generation site in the advertising sector and then running a test through the site with an addblocker turned on.

eee.... wha?

When you suggest a developer meeting on design patterns and you're technical director says(seriously) "I used to teach people everything you need to know about design patterns in 20minutes - there's only one question - 'should we do it?' and the answer is always 'yes'"

Sent a CV for a full-stack C# role. The CV is mainly a mix of working in ASMX/WCF, SQL, SSRS, SSIS, Distributed transaction architectures then with about 40% ASP.NET focusing on server side but also with some client side technologies and that I sometimes use Illustrator for creating/manipulating SVGs.
Was told I am too "front-end"

Being asked to build a website in a few days built specifically for a PowerPoint plugin that uses an IE emulator being shown in a slideshow at a remote site that your IT policy does not allow you to install in order to test - ok fine, annoying but fine.

Having to use someone taking a video of the site in the Powerpoint on a TV Screen to make changes... ok more annoying.. but whatever...

Having to work with a 14page branding guideline document to add images for a sponsor to a Powerpoint website that you cannot directly test.... erm...this is kinda awkward...but I guess...

Finding out the team you're working with has their own designer who has very specific rules for font etc. who noone involved until the day before go-live.... ... oh for...

Site goes live

Powerpoint at remote site breaks
you get asked wha'ts going on...

...f you...