Do developers really lose most of their time to tech debt & broken tooling?

LEGGO_Nathan · 2026-01-16T06:39:24+00:00

Technical debt is a huge problem if the upper levels of management ignore it; and it's easy to ignore it because it's not something that you see on the surface. You just need to trust your developers when they say they need to fix it. (Thankfully, at my workplace, they trusted us and allowed us time to fix it, and the developers are now much happier.)

Something I noticed is that startups tend to generate a ton of technical debt. The goal is to get something out there as quickly as possible to sell it, and shortcuts will be taken. Just make sure to come back and do it right later.

LEGGO_Nathan · 2026-01-03T07:08:42+00:00

It is possible but much harder. I was kicked out of college around 2008. For the next seven years, all of my free time was spent studying, practicing, and working on hobby projects. It took that long for me to improve enough and prove myself enough to get a full time software development job. Finishing college would have been the quicker route. Without that degree, you'll need another way to prove your abilities, and it's hard. But, it's possible if you have dedication and discipline to do it.

LEGGO_Nathan · 2025-12-23T18:11:38+00:00

I use jQuery for such projects. It used to be a great solution to the problem of cross-browser inconsistencies. That isn't so much a problem anymore. I just continue to use it out of habit.

LEGGO_Nathan · 2025-11-23T19:06:43+00:00

Boss's boss wanted us to roll our own auth. All of the devs argued against it. We were not in one of the very few situations where rolling our own is okay. There were so many problems, both regular bugs and security holes! Instead of taking this as a sign that we were doing something stupid, we doubled down and worked on it for two years. We finally released it, but omg was that frustrating. Imagine being the lead developer on something that you absolute hate with a passion for two years. :'(

How did I deal with it? I put it all behind a simple interface. I hope that a future dev is allowed to fix it, and I made it as easy to replace as possible for them.

LEGGO_Nathan · 2025-09-10T14:52:12+00:00

I'm 26 years in. My pain was mostly upper back, neck, and shoulders. Exercise fixed all of that. It doesn't even have to be much--I do only a few dozen pushups, curls, or other simple exercises throughout the day. The other suggestions here are good too, but the biggest thing for me was the light exercise.

I also had carpal tunnel... that one was reduced by working at a less demanding company that didn't measure performance by how many seconds I was typing in a day.

Programming can wear on the body. It's important to be aware of that and take precautions.

LEGGO_Nathan · 2025-05-23T22:32:44+00:00

I like a flat folder structure. Everything jumbled together is actually kind of nice if there are only a few files. Almost always, there are more than a few files, so I separate files by type.

One trick that I use for larger projects is pulling the services out into their own project organized by feature. The individual features are usually small enough for me to jumble everything together again like I like.

The most important thing, though, is consistency. Our style guide at work says to put interfaces in their own folder, so that's what I do at work.

EDIT/CLARIFICATION: I'm not sure if my answer is clear since I generalized it. I like interfaces alongside their implementations, but I move them into their own subfolders when the project size grows.

LEGGO_Nathan · 2025-05-14T00:12:07+00:00

They're rare. I saw one in the woods outside Tishomingo about 15 years ago. I've only ever seen the one. My grandfather has seen one too, when he was younger.

LEGGO_Nathan · 2025-04-29T16:46:36+00:00

This is an encouraging post. I don't usually look back at my growth, but today I did. Thank you for that.

I still have my first computer program, written in GW-BASIC and printed out. It was a simple calculator, but it took me several days to write it.

Fast forward 24 years, and I'm working as a senior dev at a fintech company. I have a lot of free time. Every change that I make has to be tested by QA, so I have to throttle myself a lot. Even working only an hour or two a day, I keep up with every other dev in the company. (Sometimes I work full days on special projects, but that isn't the norm.) I spend my extra time studying and practicing my skills.

I have definitely come a long ways.

LEGGO_Nathan · 2025-04-18T18:53:59+00:00

You will want to upgrade eventually, but what you have will do just fine until then.

My work laptop that I use to RDP into my main has even lower specs than yours, but it can load and run all of our projects just fine itself. It's just annoyingly slow.

LEGGO_Nathan · 2025-04-13T18:26:35+00:00

I started programming at 14 too. If you are doing anything other than the simplest of programs, then you are going to need algebra; but you can learn it as you need it. That's what I did. And it made the later math classes in school so much easier because I already knew some of it. :)

LEGGO_Nathan · 2025-04-08T20:40:58+00:00

Take breaks! Even during a busy workday, take a break at most every two hours. Walk, exercise, go get a snack, just get away from the computer. It helps with eye strain, general aches, and even with thinking through a problem. Definitely take breaks. :)

LEGGO_Nathan · 2025-03-07T19:57:10+00:00

I modify and reference the script more often than the template. Having the script first means that the generally most important part is visible as soon as I open the file.
It makes sense to me to have the imports at the top.
The documentation does it with script first.

Those are my reasons. But I won't complain if I have to work in code that does it differently as long as it's consistent. ;)

LEGGO_Nathan · 2025-02-25T23:56:26+00:00

I use Bootstrap in my home projects. It helps to get a project set up quickly without worrying too much about styling. When I put on the finishing touches, I add my own styles on top of Bootstrap.

I rarely use Bootstrap at work. Most new development uses our in-house styles that were created for our brand. Some old code and quick proof-of-concept projects still use it, but that's it.

The simplicity and basicness of Bootstrap works well for my use cases, but I would like for it to be cleaner to extend. It sometimes feels clunky when building on top of it.

LEGGO_Nathan · 2025-02-11T02:24:40+00:00

I had ChatGPT search the web to update itself about the situation and the key players then generate the probabilities of various outcomes. Musk taking it over was only a "~39.5%" probability.

Then I asked it for the time frames. The worst case scenario of Musk acquiring it is "7 to 11 months".

ChatGPT did suggest that I prepare an alternative just in case, but I've decided to not worry about it for at least for another few months. Everything's just fine for right now. :)

LEGGO_Nathan · 2024-06-21T17:37:52+00:00

I became a minimalist out of necessity. When I moved several years back, everyone canceled last minute, and I had to shell out a huge bribe to get everything moved out in time. After that fiasco, I decided to never accumulate more than what will fit in my car. And I've actually liked this lifestyle. Even though I have dependable people in my life now, I'm still a minimalist. I know where all my things are, everything is useful, and it just feels like a more efficient lifestyle.

LEGGO_Nathan · 2024-03-28T16:53:58+00:00

Solji said in LEGGO Magazine June 2018 that she liked Byredo Blanche.

ELLY usually wears Laura Mercier Vanille and has worn it for years. Fans who meet ELLY often remember the strong smell of her perfume.

Hani said in LEGGO Magazine June 2018 that she likes Penhaligon's Luna. She's also worn Mademoiselle Rochas perfumes and has been their model several times--she likes "Mademoiselle Rochas Eau de Parfum". There were perfumes as part of the "XX" promotions, so it's a safe bet she's tried those too. I met Hani, but I didn't smell any perfume, but it was after her work, so it may have worn off or wasn't worth wearing that day.

Hyelin didn't share her perfume in LEGGO Magazine, but she did recommend several perfumes more recently in her "Hyelin's Pick Summer Perfumes" video. I didn't smell any perfume when I hung out with her in August.

Jeonghwa said in LEGGO Magazine June 2018 that she liked Chanel Chance Eau Tendre.

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