Do people do a lot of non-dev work as part of their job?
Posted by chaitanyathengdi@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 41 comments
In my job I've observed recently that I've been doing work that is more and more non-dev related. After the application went to production at the end of July, the next phase of development hasn't even been discussed, let alone started. Instead the work is shifted to other, more legacy applications.
You would think that this would be a priority to get the new development phase started, for no other reason than to reduce technical debt and implement any new features/improvements that would be a must-have or good-to-have. But no. No one has given a crap for months.
Instead, the work has been to test workflows, or application UI (which is literally QA work, like filling forms and testing errors) or creating word/excel documents. I do work on the occasional ticket or two, but I haven't worked on the application that I am supposed to be in charge of for at least 4 months.
Is this common in the industry? All this "dumb work" is stressing me out and making me feel undervalued. I'm seriously considering moving elsewhere, but I don't want to find out it was just a "grass is greener on the other side" scenario. Plus a big thing about this role is that it's basically optional to work from office. So that's something that I don't want to leave, given that I'm dealing with some personal stuff which really benefits from me being at home.
gomihako_@reddit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KClAPipnKqw
slightly_salty@reddit
join a startup, you get to do dev all day every day including the weekends, nights, holidays 💀
chaitanyathengdi@reddit (OP)
No thanks. I have enough ways to kill myself already.
slightly_salty@reddit
Can't die if you already have no life ðŸ˜.
... Maybe consider a series B startup. You may get to code and have a life haha.
UntestedMethod@reddit
Good lord that is too real. When I was having those kind of thoughts and working intense hours at a startup, it was when I was spiraling into burnout and a deep depression that's already taken several years to even start to recover from.
I ceased believing in that company and the delusion that the stock options they offered me would ever be worth anything. For me there simply was no "light at the end of the tunnel" to keep going down that path and the endless intense work just lost any meaning. I simply did not enjoy my time when I was only living to work and not living at all.
slightly_salty@reddit
"Well of course I know him"
NoPain_666@reddit
Probably 80% of non-code writing, as solution architect
LuckyWriter1292@reddit
The more senior you are = the more meetings/other work you have to do.
Esseratecades@reddit
This is pretty common when you work on an enabling product instead of a profit generating one.
It certainly is part of the job but the question you should always be asking is how you can automate that stuff.
Gooeyy@reddit
How long have you been working there?
chaitanyathengdi@reddit (OP)
A year and a half, thereabouts.
Gooeyy@reddit
Is it your first SWE gig?
chaitanyathengdi@reddit (OP)
Third. 10 YoE.
Dave-Alvarado@reddit
The higher up you go, the less typing syntax into a code editor you end up doing. Banging out code all day is junior work. Figuring how how to solve problems with code is senior work. Figuring out what problems to solve is staff work.
telewebb@reddit
Thanks, this was a good laugh. "Literally QA work" yeah, testing your code is dev work. No, it's not "dumb work". My recommendation is to chill out, learn your system, and get ready for the next feature.
nomoreplsthx@reddit
What your'e describing sounds like dev work to me.
Programming is a tiny part of dev work.
slightly_salty@reddit
*looks up from keyboard after multiple 12 hour days of only programming, cries in startup*
nomoreplsthx@reddit
:D
jonmitz@reddit
??? Being an engineer is more than writing code and closing ticketsÂ
bteam3r@reddit
The more senior I get, the less time I spend writing code.
SoftEngineerOfWares@reddit
But also importantly, the less time you need to spend writing code. So you learn that 1 hour of design work is worth 5 hours of debugging, rewriting, and reorganizing
mad_pony@reddit
Automated integration testing is a part of development process.
chaitanyathengdi@reddit (OP)
Yes. If it were automated.
Jackfruit_Then@reddit
It’s your job to automate things. You are a developer, remember?
mad_pony@reddit
So, why don't you automate mundane things?
psychometrixo@reddit
This is how skills rot, one day at a time. When you're hiring devs, you find droves of these used-to-code types that clearly didn't code much for a couple of years and then got cut loose. They have fresh certs but (literally) cannot print the even numbers between 1 and 10 given an
isEvenfunction. True storyNot saying you should leave, but I definitely encourage you to find some ways to stay sharp.
chaitanyathengdi@reddit (OP)
I can smell the rot.
neurorgasm@reddit
Well yeah. Who else is supposed to do my manager's job?!
chaitanyathengdi@reddit (OP)
...
couchjitsu@reddit
I would need to know a lot more about this "non-dev work" that you're doing.
Testing workflows - is it to validate that they work, to find ways to improve them, or to understand the product so that you're more equipped to work on it?
Creating word/excel documents - to what end? Are you putting down requirements, test cases, making architectural recommendations? Or are you just opening a word doc, pounding on your keys and closing it?
It's entirely possible that your new priority is not the app you were hired to work on. Challenge is companies shift their priorities.
chaitanyathengdi@reddit (OP)
I wish. They are basically reports. An intern could make them.
niveKynlOehT@reddit
Is software the primary product or service that your company provides or is it adjacent? 4 months of light dev work seems like a long time for tech, but wouldn’t be out of the realm of normal for tech-adjacent companies.
allKindsOfDevStuff@reddit
Meetings
drunkandy@reddit
Leadership problem. Does your product have a product manager? If not, it sounds like there's a role ripe for the taking if you're interested.
chaitanyathengdi@reddit (OP)
They have managers for everything. Hell, I'd say they need to reduce the number of managers.
DestinTheLion@reddit
Most people would
diablo1128@reddit
No, but testing and documentation is part of "dev work" under my definition. I use excel and word all the time, hell I even use visio to create diagrams for my design documents. Being a SWE is not just about heads down coding all day ever day.
In terms of your situation it sounds like the "next phase" is not priority for your company. Hell, management may not even deem any "new features/improvements that would be a must-have or good-to-have". Just because you think something should be done doesn't mean there are actual business reasons that management cares about driving that change.
If you don't like your current job then look for a new job. Every company is different and will present a different culture. Any stress you are feeling is self induced. At at the end of the day it's just a job and a job does not define you as a person.
chaitanyathengdi@reddit (OP)
As I said, I don't want to switch for the wrong reasons. And if I take a step based on emotion rather than reasoning, that is what will end up happening.
Stubbby@reddit
In general, there is a quite big divide between the work of Electrical Engineer and Electrical Technician, Mechanical Engineer and a Mechanical Drafter/Machinist. In some circumstances, there is also a divide between Software Engineers and Programmers.
No_Indication_1238@reddit
This work isn't beneath you, it's part of handling the project.
ratttertintattertins@reddit
Unfortunately yes, this is becoming much more common. Much to the detriment of code-bases everywhere.