Columbus43219 t1_j5civht wrote on January 22, 2023 at 12:25 AM

Reply to comment by Dissenting_voice in What High Tech and Media Layoffs Say About the Economy by PleaseThinkFirst

My personal opinion is that you are seeing the results of companies using non-technical folks to manage IT projects. It started back in the 80s about the same time as I started.

I remember people rolling their eyes at trying to explain why a job failed or a disk needs replacing. Now that's a full time job.

So of course the management now wants to measure everything, and they come up with nonsensical metrics and it ruins the flow for everyone.

Younger folks that come into IT see a bunch of metrics and just try to stay in the game.

DMercenary t1_j5cmneb wrote on January 22, 2023 at 12:53 AM

> see a bunch of metrics and just try to stay in the game.

And when a metric becomes the goal.... it ceases to be a useful metric.

Columbus43219 t1_j5cv32z wrote on January 22, 2023 at 1:55 AM

Exactly! We turned that corner about a decade ago. A "good" developer now just writes barely functioning code as fast as possible.

Dissenting_voice t1_j5cn3aq wrote on January 22, 2023 at 12:56 AM

My mother worked in a call centre where metrics were virtually the only method of gauging a workers worth. These metrics don’t appear to be the only answer to improving productivity in tech, but they are certainly must be some part of the answer.

The trouble seems to me (as an outsider) that at some point one tech giant decided to install pool tables, pinball machines, and lounging chains in the office, and every smaller tech company took it as gospel that these were things that improve productivity. The same appears to go for productivity metrics.

Glystopher t1_j5cxehx wrote on January 22, 2023 at 2:12 AM

Some shit company founder had office toys installed during the dot com boom, and after a couple months of watching who played with them, fired those people and removed the toys. Shitheads.

Dissenting_voice t1_j5d8rt4 wrote on January 22, 2023 at 3:39 AM

Ngl, that is pretty funny.

Glystopher t1_j5gesfq wrote on January 22, 2023 at 8:50 PM

In retrospect , it is. During that, he’ll no. I was let go with the excuse “we are not comfortable with having you on our team anymore”

Was a Christian nutrition mlm, so fuck ‘em. I had also publicly disagreed on dress code decrees to his face as well (no earrings on men?) I became a target. I was so pissed at the guy but he ended up dying 6mo later .

I didn’t do well after losing that job due to the recession and 9/11 plus my inability to cope without excessive partying. I got arrested and had to spend 3 months in county for assault. I was not able to re enter the IT field until 10 years later , and after going to get my undergrad. I can’t stand the certification crap. I now work tech support and development in dementia research. Love the public sector/academia, it’s a good fit.