Post by @foone@digipres.club

2026-10-14 17:14 UTC

I've been saying since the 2000s that it's important that every big software stack have at least one angry new software grad to fight back against entrenched complexity in the existing codebase. sometimes there is a good reason why we can't "just do X, Y, or Z" but someone should be still raising the question, damn it

Replies (3)

@oldguycrusty@mastodon.world 2026-10-14 17:25

@foone@digipres.club Yes, asking the question - documenting the answer. I am consistently the 'crazy old guy' for asking where we documented our earlier decisions about a project. Sadly, little has changed in 40 years of me asking that same question.

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@lawbecke@mastodon.social 2026-10-14 17:35

@foone@digipres.club this is one of the first things I tell new co-op students. Forcing me to explain why you’re wrong is valuable to both of us, and sometimes you’re right! Or at least less wrong than it looks at first glance.

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@cricalix@mastodon.ie 2026-10-14 17:46

@foone@digipres.club this is a reason I love having paid interns at my employer. They don't know what isn't possible, ask questions of our assumptions and Chesterton's Fences, and generally force us to reconsider decisions - sometimes it's "yeah, sure, we can change that", others it's "no, it's that way for good reasons that still hold". But it forces us to reevaluate our work

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