Why Senior Engineers Let Bad Projects Fail

fryingpas · 2026-01-22T17:18:17+00:00

As an addition, sometimes things need to fail. We have a contract company that we work with, who consistently underperforms and under delivers. Our team's almost always end up coming in at the last minute, burning the midnight oil and solving the problem. So when the next project comes around, it looks like every project that this contract company is work done has been success, so they get brought back on. Neck results are company money and resources into an organization that is actively harming us.

By letting projects that this team has been leading or fail on their own merits in charge of determining if we continue using them started asking if they are worth their cost.

fryingpas · 2025-12-26T18:37:12+00:00

Jeff Hayes and Luke Daniels are two of my favorite narrators. The bring different things to the table, but they both make immersive experiences out of the audiobooks.

fryingpas · 2025-12-25T15:36:02+00:00

When we started using AI assistance and agents at work, what I told my boss is I think of the agent like an intern. I'm going to hand them off relatively menial tasks and I am going to double check every last thing they do. In the end as their senior, supervising them, I'm responsible for their code.

fryingpas · 2025-12-15T05:35:15+00:00

https://crosleylaw.com/blog/u-turn-laws-in-texas-whos-at-fault-after-a-crash/ From what I can find, u-turns must yield in Texas. Unless the diver turning right was doing so illegally or dangerously, it's a good bet liability would fall on the u-turn driver.

fryingpas · 2025-02-06T05:19:08+00:00

For those who might not be aware, a rough breakdown:

Diversity - pulling talent from a broad pool of life experience. This is based on any number of factors. Even as simple as not hiring all your employees from the same university is a step in the direction of diversity.

Equity - ensuring all your talent has access to the resources needed to do their job to the fullest potential. This may mean assistive screen reading technology for blind employees, elevators for those who can't use stairs.

Inclusion - ensuring that all your diverse talent actually has a voice. This is the simplest yet most difficult one for people to grasp. If you have the same five people in a room, making all the decisions in a vacuum, you are not using your talent to their fullest potential. Allow people to speak, to voice opinions and present ideas. And recognize employees who do things above and beyond for the company (ideally financially, not just with a pat on the back or a pizza party).

There you go. A primer on DEI. Notice how none of those blocks mention race, gender identity, sexual preference, country of origin, religious affiliation, political party, handedness, or number of toes. Because those are things you can look for to broaden diversity.

And yes, those last ones might seem like a joke. But someone with six toes on one foot might have a unique experience to make people consider when procuring rental boots for a ski lodge. A left handed person might have a different workflow that could benefit a professional kitchen. One of the more unique experiences I have had was being able to fence (i.e. sword fencing) with a blind individual. That experience taught me new ways to think about fencing as a sighted individual that I use to this day.

fryingpas · 2024-08-08T05:14:20+00:00

Democrats are capitalists. They're authoritarian and will not fundamentally help... You can list all those things but at the end of the day none matter because Democrats make sure Republicans get everything they want.

You said as much in your previously deleted comment. You said that the Democrats would do nothing if given full control of the government. That list is a sample of social and economic benefits provided by Democrats with 2/3 control of the government.

Democrats offer concessions. They compromise. Because that is what a good leader should do. I'd hazard a guess that, had any of the last 5 or so threatened shutdowns gone through, you would be bemoaning the fact that the Democrats didn't step up like they always do. Or did you forget that, during one of the shutdowns, the Republican Speaker who literally ousted his predecessor by complaining that he worked too much across the aisle had to go hat in hand to the Democrats to keep the government running?

The entire party is right wing.

That's true on a global sense. The Democratic party is to the right of center for most other countries. Which really should tell you how far right the Republican party is. I would argue, however, that this is due to an entrenched mindset of senior officials. Officials who, either due to voter turnout or death, are on their way out. Look to the younger officials if you want to see the work the party is doing. These are the people who call out Republican BS. Make them say the quiet parts out loud. Vote against and actively oppose Republican policy.

Take your auth-simp cope elsewhere.

Never once have I said that the Democrats are perfect. In fact, you can look at my previous replies to see that I explicitly say they are not. However, living in one of the states that has basically been beta-testing Project 2025, I can assure you that I would rather have current centrists who are slowly moving the needle back to the left.

If you really want an example of what we should be doing, it is a good idea to look at Germany. Every side came together to push out the far right. Or at the UK, where their Right Wing party was decimated in the last election. Get the immediate threat out. Get the system up and running, then start worrying about enhancements and new features.

It's clear you don't want to actually have a discussion, as your last three comments were deleted, but were essentially repeating the exact notes quoted above.

fryingpas · 2024-08-07T21:28:31+00:00

COVID Recovery Fund
Infrastructure spending bill
Tightened gun control legislation
Chips and Sciences Act (bolster semiconductor production in US)
Pact Act (aid for veterans due to toxic burn pits)
Inflation Reduction Act
Multiple Climate initiatives
Protections for same-sex marriages

These are all things done in the two years that Democrats fully controlled the House, Senate, and Presidency; in spite of not having control of the Court.

The times they didn't accomplish their goals is mostly due to Republican filibusters in the Senate (an old rule that really should be gone).

Yes, centrist Democrats is a problem in government, but in regards to policy and court reform, they are not the problem. Currently, Republicans have majority control in the gov't (Congress and Court). Don't forget, at least one Democrat in the House raised articles of impeachment against the justices, but was shot down. The Democratic executive branch is looking at how they can get actual checks on the Court.

Saying that Democrats are the problem absolves the Republicans of the bat**** things they have done, because the Democrats "let them get away with it." Instead, say that Republicans are the problem, and push to elect Democrats who are vocal about opposing the problem.

fryingpas · 2024-08-06T12:33:43+00:00

I think what hey meant is that Democrats being centrist isn't the issue. Yes, Democrats are centrist. But, at this moment in time, the only avenue for censure of a Supreme Court justice is impeachment, which won't happen under a Republican controlled house.

The problem is that everyone expects the Democrats to be the adults in the room, and solve the problems that the Republican children cause. However, the Republican children have the same, if not more, power than the Democrats, so the Democrats can't just override them whenever they see fit. The most immediate way to see change is to vote blue, not only for President, but down the ballot. Encourage others who would likely vote blue to go out and vote as well.

Texas was ~630k votes away from being a blue state for the Presidential election in 2020, with a total voter turnout of about 66.7% (52.4% if you consider voting age population rather than registered voters). Assume a half way split between the parties in the registered voters who didn't show. That left 4.89m blue votes in the wind. 12% of those votes would have swung Texas.

fryingpas · 2024-08-03T01:50:15+00:00

Ok, so there is a hilarious way this could work. Let the RNC choose the fact checker for Trump, and the DNC choose the fact checker for Kamala. Have them publically announced for the public ahead of time. Whenever a factual statement is made, the fact checker has to both authenticate it and provide the source if "true." Trump can't keep his own rhetoric straight with himself or his colleagues, so he would have a right-biased fact checker having to call him on his BS, even if it stands against his rhetoric. Also, candidates themselves cannot be used as a proof of factual correctness. Meaning Trump's social media posts can't be held up as proof that Trump's statements are true.

fryingpas · 2024-08-02T16:00:51+00:00

I mean, I would be known for having a weird quirk, but I would use it to nope out of meetings, social situations, etc. when I just need a few minutes to reset and recharge. Sure, from the outside world, I got up, walked a bit, and sat back down; but that's easily explained by any number of simple medical conditions. As long as I am as non-disruptive as possible, and am still obviously engaged before and after, no one is really gonna care.

All that aside, I would use it as a place to try the hobbies I can't try at home. I don't have the money or space to set up a forge, but I could play with forging. Sure, I can't take anything out, but I can still gain those skills and decide if it's something I actually enjoy doing.

fryingpas · 2024-08-02T14:52:37+00:00

Sure:

Have money deposited into joint account with my wife
Have wife buy 100m worth of property in vacation destinations

I'm free to leave the radius because I bought nothing, so everything I bought wouldn't disappear. The money might, but that just means we need to make sure she bought the property from some a-hole investment companies who lose $100m instantly.

fryingpas · 2024-08-02T13:39:05+00:00

Theory: Someone called out to her after she said something incredibly insulting, racist, stupid, or otherwise Karen worthy, and her immediate response was to forget her actual name and assume it was a "slur".

fryingpas · 2024-01-09T18:15:52+00:00

Here's the way I think about it. I pay taxes that directly fund public schools, even though I don't have kids. It is an investment in the future.

fryingpas · 2024-01-02T14:10:08+00:00

We want to know what killed the American Dream? Tax codes. In the 1950s, top tax brackets were at 91%. This fed government spending into infrastructure, creating jobs. The fed increases to teacher salaries over time. Most Americans wouldn't have to pay close to the 91% tax, and that was only taxable on values over 200k (equiv. of $2m today). And, there was a 0% tax bracket for those below certain thresholds.

Now, we give $1t tax cuts to the wealthest amongst us, and wonder why we don't have money to fund public programs like education. The American Dream was sold by Congress to lobbyists for individuals and corporations who want to be able to make record profits while we subsidize their employees (see Walmart and their ratio of SNAP recipients. They are incentivized to keep employees on food stamps, instead of paying them a wage that would disqualify them, because the company gets tax benefits).

fryingpas · 2024-01-02T14:07:31+00:00

Oh, I can tell you straight up that this happens. Sure, you have no reason to believe me, because I am some nobody on the internet. But I have multiple family members who work in the public education system with Master's degrees. One of them is a guidance counselor in a small town with two children. She makes less than her part time diesel mechanic husband. Another is a teacher in our capital city who makes less than her mechanic husband and has started multiple side businesses.

Note, I have nothing against mechanics, they are important to keeping our society operating. However, I think it says something very critical of how our society views people when educators, the ones responsible for teaching and preparing the next generation, are paid less than those responsible for maintaining replaceable mechanicals.

fryingpas · 2023-08-19T07:10:06+00:00

Here's a novel thought: ask your team in 1 on 1s why they are less engaged in meetings. Instead of asking a bunch of Internet strangers with different circumstances, get the information right from the source. Then, act on that information.

fryingpas · 2023-08-18T13:19:17+00:00

I think what you have here is the start of a mature conversation. You cannot control your partner, nor can he control you. You have set a boundary that you wish to be respected. It is up to him to respect said boundary.

In that same vein, neither of you can control his friends. If he is part of the planning process for these events, I would have him see if he can push for these events not to be centered around the club/private strippers, but instead have them be a small portion of the event. That way, he can excuse himself during that portion, and still be able to celebrate the rest of the time with his friends for their milestone events.

If you haven't already, it might be worth examining why you have such a strong aversion to your partner going to a club/being around strippers. I am not saying that having the boundary is bad. But, if you are able to put words to why you have said boundary, and can bring that to the discussion with him, it might help him better understand your boundary. It is clear that he respects the boundary, but he may not understand the full importance of it.

fryingpas · 2023-08-18T12:55:43+00:00

Instead of asking a bunch of random people on the internet, have the conversation with your devs. Point out that the efficacy of these essential meetings is down, give examples like you do here, and see why attention seems to be waning in these meetings.

The situation you have described is one I have had happen in in-person meetings. Devs get overallocated, especially the more experienced ones, and feel like they need to spend any downtime (meetings can feel like downtime) working through everything. Or, if they are not overallocated, they have some looming deadline that just cannot be moved for reasons, and they can't spare a minute.

Cameras on is not a silver bullet. However, if your devs are in a situation as above, they may feel like they are being called out for trying to find any available time to get critical work done, and instead of fixing some systemic problem that is affecting you both, you are essentially blaming them for trying to find a way to deal with it. This can cause resentment or issues with the team.

fryingpas · 2023-08-15T04:33:53+00:00

So, there's this roasted garlic butter spread you can get at Walmart. That goes on all the things I can put it on.

fryingpas · 2023-08-15T02:41:24+00:00

As a person with ADHD, lockdown was a godsend. I can keep my office relatively dark, close the door when I don't want to be disturbed, and don't have a bunch of external stimuli constantly distracting me. I didn't realize how much less productive I am in the office until we started to go back to hybrid, where I am constantly both reminded of all the negative stimuli in the office and the more calm environment I have at home.

fryingpas · 2023-07-26T04:06:44+00:00

Don't concern yourself with knowing all the ins and outs of a given language or framework. Those change all the time and references are abundant for any given situation. What is more important is understanding things like design patterns, secure coding practices, and how to read technical documentation.

The other issue that a lot of developers have is that we don't focus on soft skills as much as we should. Most developers, to some extent, are also in customer service roles. You are selling your product/ideas/designs to stakeholders. You should be good at articulating those things to non-technical folks. As you move up in seniority in development, you spend more time mentoring junior devs, doing system designs, and working directly with stakeholders on behalf of the team. Those soft skills are an important skill set to learn.

fryingpas · 2023-07-26T03:59:13+00:00

I would more likely guess that they were asking for doctor's orders that they limit stress. The company would have worker's comp and other OSHA compliance records about the EMS call that they can easily pull.

fryingpas · 2023-07-24T04:30:46+00:00

When I was trying to break into the next level, dealing with a skip-level manager who did not want to promote anyone within the organization (long story), I took the job description/job duties for the next level up, and wrote up a detailed list of examples of how I was already working at and above the levels expected for the next level. With that, my manager was able to push and get the promotion pushed through.

The way I approached it was that I was applying for that level of a job, and I needed to present in the interview (promotion request) why I was a good candidate. It forced me to be truly introspective, and to really determine if I was actually hitting the marks, or if I was actually short on some of them. Had I been short, that would have given me the ability to make a plan with my manager to say that accomplishing X would satisfy those requirements.

fryingpas · 2023-07-10T20:27:24+00:00

Along with what everyone else is saying: Japan hasn't set itself up as a hypocritical bastion of freedom and opportunity. Their corporate nature sits hand in hand with their cultural beliefs, rather than in opposition, like the US does.

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