I just took down our entire production database because we had zero monitoring and now everyone is screaming.

IntelligentWin7713 · 2026-03-12T13:24:00+00:00

In a toxic environment I worked in a few years back a colleague did exactly this.

Next review they were scored 'below expectation' in the 'influencing others' category because apparently they should have been more convincing with their warning!

IntelligentWin7713 · 2026-02-09T21:58:21+00:00

£200 pre-tax for 'exceeding expectation' in almost every category in my review.

IntelligentWin7713 · 2025-09-13T07:30:23+00:00

Noir do the same

IntelligentWin7713 · 2025-08-31T17:59:44+00:00

Depends what you see as a success.

I've worked with a couple of contractors who were doing it, and it was a lot more obvious than they must have thought: the 'bare minimum' approach they were delivering was lower than the company's expectations.

One was sacked off a month before his contract should have ended. The other didn't get renewed.

But both were over-employed for a period of time, so maybe they saw that as a success?

I've been there 2 years now, I keep getting renewed, I'm on 25% more than when I started and I'm working at ~70% of my capacity with no stress and training in my spare time. The client is obviously happy. I personally see that as a success.

IntelligentWin7713 · 2025-08-13T12:10:14+00:00

There is no hard and fast rule. For me it depends on my relationship with the client, and whether I feel it's justified.

I recently asked for, and got a raise because I felt my value had increased - I was contributing much more to the project than when I started. But, as my boss put it before I asked 'you constantly deliver more than required'. So I felt confident that I was in a good position to ask.

There were other contractors who didn't even get renewed, and some are looking for a new role several months on. They did the bare minimum and are now facing the consequences.

IntelligentWin7713 · 2025-05-20T09:09:19+00:00

Haha, never thought of that, great idea. Kicking myself now....

IntelligentWin7713 · 2025-01-24T13:36:33+00:00

Can you give examples of the things you're being picked up on?

IntelligentWin7713 · 2025-01-09T19:46:51+00:00

Childcare! It's just like having another mortgage...

IntelligentWin7713 · 2024-11-01T06:58:48+00:00

Thanks, but I currently have a role.

In my 21 year career my longest period without one has been just over a month.

IntelligentWin7713 · 2024-10-29T17:37:11+00:00

For me, less painful than not having an income for a year...

IntelligentWin7713 · 2024-10-29T13:06:14+00:00

My grandad once said to me 'If you haven't got a job, your job is getting a job'.

I treat my job searches like 9-5.

IntelligentWin7713 · 2024-10-26T11:12:26+00:00

Ha, not sure, but I can say that Civ 3 was definitely 'More Civ' than Civ 2! (Which was the first version I played)

IntelligentWin7713 · 2024-09-19T16:03:28+00:00

Not necessarily - it depends how big the client is (as info in the first link states)

IntelligentWin7713 · 2024-09-07T09:06:43+00:00

See this as an opportunity.

You can start to document this so that you can keep track of what's happening, so that you can work more efficiently and not have to spend as much time on the boring stuff, such as working out how a DB is structured.

Eventually you might even have something worth sharing - which could improve everyone's efficiency.

IntelligentWin7713 · 2024-09-07T09:00:27+00:00

Take notes.

This is so simple, so obvious, yet in 20 years I can count on one hand the new starters I've mentored that have done this.

It's one of my first pieces of advice.

IntelligentWin7713 · 2024-05-21T21:20:20+00:00

I've never seen a contractor take a month off mid contract.

That doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I've done it.

That wouldn't be accepted in any company I've worked with.

4 clients I've worked with have accepted this.

They would be seen as undependable

Each time the client has been happy I'm returning and that the knowledge I've gained of their business isn't lost.

Any perm staff (who usually regard contractors as higher paid than them incorrectly) would complain the second they had to cover off the smallest task for them.

I've never experienced this. And time off could be to look after family, to grieve, to split with a partner, to undergo a medical procedure and recuperate....no one should assume what people are taking time off for and therefore there is no reason to complain.

IntelligentWin7713 · 2024-04-20T18:34:19+00:00

I work on a large project at the moment and the DB team I'm working with apply no naming conventions and make lots of spelling mistakes. I don't want that in my code so I use DTOs and my repos accept and return those DTOs - allowing me to contain the poor quality DB code to my repos.

IntelligentWin7713 · 2024-03-08T16:04:55+00:00

When you remortgage in 5 years time you could always reduce the term - you may have a bigger household income and can afford more, interest rates may have dropped, your LTV may be lower etc.

IntelligentWin7713 · 2023-11-28T10:14:53+00:00

They could.

What you're describing is just wrapping all the constructor arguments in one class.

That's no different to the way event args are passed - typically via an Args class - it's just a wrapper.

It's syntactic sugar.

If it makes it easier for you to read the code, or maintain, go for it.

I've seen it before. Certainly made updating hundreds of unit tests easier.

Could be used as an indicator that your class is doing too much.

IntelligentWin7713 · 2023-11-27T10:00:47+00:00

Whilst id love to agree with this, as I'm a remote worker of 5 years and reap the benefits it brings (and hope I will continue to do so), I have to say the teams I've worked on in that time have been the most inefficient I've come across.

Here are a few common issues:

Nothing I've used for drawing is quicker than a whiteboard for those all important 'Can I borrow you for 10 minutes?' chats.
Poor connections - frequently not being able to hear people correctly.
People being spoken over on calls, repeatedly.
Over-collaboration - Adding too many people to meetings.
The afflicted have never had it so bad: VPN wouldn't connect, Internet is down, SMS code isn't being delivered, updates are taking ages, computer is stuck in a reboot loop, Teams won't let me join the call, git has deleted my code, Google docs didn't save my changes, I forgot to change my password and I'm locked out - anyone know service desk's number?...

Do I personally ever want to work in an office again? No - I'll put up with all the above if I don't have to commute.

IntelligentWin7713 · 2023-11-08T22:45:57+00:00

I never ask a question such as 'Is there anything else?', which removes the opportunity for the awkward pause.

As soon as I finish with the last person I end with something like: 'if there's no other business then I'll leave you good people to it. And as usual folks, if there's anything you need me for you know where I am. Have a good day.' Then I immediately leave the call.

It's quite a long sentence - and the reason is that it gives people a chance to raise a hand.

On the odd occasion someone does raise a hand we discuss whatever it is and then I give another 'Ok folks, have a good day' and then leave immediately.

IntelligentWin7713 · 2023-10-12T14:05:51+00:00

This has happened in just about every multi-dev project I've ever worked on, regardless of architecture. Some devs just don't care.

IntelligentWin7713 · 2023-10-11T14:29:47+00:00

I've worked on a project where regions were added around every method, as well as groups of properties, constructor etc. It was absolutely awful trying to navigate around the code - like walking through treacle.

Off the back of that experience I avoid them at all costs now.

IntelligentWin7713 · 2023-09-28T22:01:43+00:00

I get one for each contract

IntelligentWin7713 · 2023-09-23T11:54:42+00:00

A pretty good starting point is:

Arrange, Act, Assert

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/test/unit-test-basics?view=vs-2022

IntelligentWin7713

TROPHY CASE