I've worked in both environments (I too was coding in the 90's).
It was definitely easier in the 90's - less complexity, more freedom to do your own stuff. Project management was less hands-on, and more concerned with reporting up than managing down.
But I like it now. I like that the teamwork matters, and the morning standups are great (good to know what your colleagues are working on, and be able to work out if you need to collaborate with them on stuff you're both touching). I like pair programming on the tricky bits (and being able to admit that some bits are tricky and ask for help without being sneered at).
Programmers used to be treated as weird, eccentric geniuses that you had to handle with care and needed special work environments to thrive in. Now we're just people, and get treated like normal people. I understand how that won't suit some, because they enjoyed being treated differently ("like princes" I guess... but more like princesses because we were effectively locked in a tower).
And as we get older, our tolerance for change decreases. It takes effort to avoid becoming a grumpy old fart, complaining at everything that has changed. But the effort is worth it.
.... and there you go proving the authors point about derision and subtle sneers aimed at what is arguably the most effective means of getting focused highly productive developers: treating them like HUMANS, instead of faceless cogs, and allowing for focused programming time without distractions.
"old farts" rock, my friend. I get that some folks enjoy molding young minds to sick patterns, free of pushback, but ultimately I will contend that it's it's counterproductive to ones true goals. (unless ones true goals are merely to crush human egos and souls...)
I said nothing about treating people like humans, or not, and nothing about focus (I completely agree that developers should work in their own offices, and love working from home myself). I said we used to be treated like socially inept geniuses, left to our devices because no-one understood what the hell we were talking about. And now we're treated like everyone else. If that doesn't mean "like a human" then you're working for the wrong organisation, my friend.
I'm an old fart. I have to spend effort resisting the pull to be a grumpy old fart, though. It's not like it used to be, and mostly that's a good thing.
> And as we get older, our tolerance for change decreases. It takes effort to avoid becoming a grumpy old fart, complaining at everything that has changed. But the effort is worth it.
Just the other day a Senior was telling me about one job he went back to where they were bought out. The new people wanted to introduce process into how they work and since most of the devs complained that whole team was let go.
The sad part was he didnt care what he had to do to work. He just wanted to work. So the majority opinion he didnt agree with got him screwed over. If you are going to assume a whole team is rotten please dont. Interview them independently.
It was definitely easier in the 90's - less complexity, more freedom to do your own stuff. Project management was less hands-on, and more concerned with reporting up than managing down.
But I like it now. I like that the teamwork matters, and the morning standups are great (good to know what your colleagues are working on, and be able to work out if you need to collaborate with them on stuff you're both touching). I like pair programming on the tricky bits (and being able to admit that some bits are tricky and ask for help without being sneered at).
Programmers used to be treated as weird, eccentric geniuses that you had to handle with care and needed special work environments to thrive in. Now we're just people, and get treated like normal people. I understand how that won't suit some, because they enjoyed being treated differently ("like princes" I guess... but more like princesses because we were effectively locked in a tower).
And as we get older, our tolerance for change decreases. It takes effort to avoid becoming a grumpy old fart, complaining at everything that has changed. But the effort is worth it.