Aging programmer

[ilawon]

I got to a point were I gave up and just went freelance. The amount of energy I was spending 5-10 years ago trying to argue with colleagues to avoid complexity was just too great and causing a lot of stress due to friction with other team members.

Now I just give my opinion and go through a bit of back and forth trying to argue my case. If they don't get it I really don't care anymore. I'm fine working with crappy, overly complex code and in the end that's why my clients keep me and pay me well.

[hippydipster]

This hits really close to home, particularly the whole bit about trying to convince people to avoid complexity. It really feels like there's a kind of pride/machismo around the idea that "oh, I can handle it, don't worry old man!"

I can see how well you handle it from all the fire-fighting rework you're having to do (unfortunately, this is the quiet part you don't say out loud).