aerfen

Follow-up: 12 YOE staff eng, never got a chance to break into management

Posted by gburdell@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 16 comments

aerfen@reddit

I'm staff+ with 15 YOE and I've done a few years managing engineers (had 12 under me at one point) before stepping back to IC. I'm very glad for the experience, but I've got to say I'm so glad I got that out the way before the AI boom, and right now I'm really happy to be fully hands on and able to dedicate my time to keeping up with this strange new world. I'm sure whatever you choose you'll do well, but it's a tough choice either way at this moment in time. Good luck!

Startups with the Most Technical Debt Had the Best Funding Outcomes (N=70)

Posted by iotahunter9000@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 44 comments

aerfen@reddit

No point in a perfect code base with no users. The most successful startups will flirt with disaster long enough to turn a profit or get a big funding round and then pivot to good engineering practices when they've proven the product is worth maintaining.

Scaling PostgreSQL to Millions of Queries Per Second: Lessons from OpenAI

Posted by rajkumarsamra@reddit | programming | View on Reddit | 3 comments

Ask Experienced Devs Weekly Thread: A weekly thread for inexperienced developers to ask experienced ones

Posted by AutoModerator@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 71 comments

aerfen@reddit

In a start up it's going to be tough. Leadership will have existential dread at all times, and will ruthlessly want to only spend time on things that they can either show to investors or sell to clients. It's a very different beast to companies at other stages of growth. I'm personally of the opinion that CI/CD and automation testing makes me deliver faster because I don't need to be concerned with regression and manual testing nearly as much. But I'm also capable of setting these things up myself from scratch and wouldn't ask permission - it's just the way I work. I wouldn't ask for specific time to work on these things as a start up will always prioritise new features. As a new grad, your best bet is probably to find the ear of the most senior developer you can and start to build support for these things. As a grad in this market I'd be reluctant to push too hard and go against the grain too much. Learn all you can and try your best to influence positive change. Particularly if you have some evidence of regression issues that would have been prevented by a good test that might be a good place to start.

Is it normal these days to keep cameras on for all meetings with no exceptions?

Posted by kouro_sensei_007@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 544 comments

aerfen@reddit

In a meeting in which I'm participating, or a meeting that's small enough that you can see everyone on one screen in teams, I'll have my camera on and so will everyone else. In an all hands with hundreds of attendees, if I'm not presenting I'll have the camera off.

Why did a street charity collector reject my donation?

Posted by Username638012@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 41 comments

aerfen@reddit

I used to know someone who did chugging for Greenpeace. They had data that showed the younger you are the more likely you are to cancel your direct debit quickly, and that once you take into account fees and time spent giving the spiel, it wasn't worth their while signing up under 30s.

I’m 20 and missing most of my teeth. Can the NHS cover it or do I have to go private?

Posted by Wolowoloismyname@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 106 comments

aerfen@reddit

If you are in London, or can get to London easily enough, you can get free restorative dentistry at Guys prosthodontics teaching hospital. It will be long winded as you'll be treated by undergraduates/postgrads under the tutelage of consultants & professors. I've had some work done and it took 25 appointments including 3 surgeries over the course of about 12 months. All free, very high quality work, but you have to be prepared to spend dozens of hours in the chair and your appointments will be limited to days that your assigned student is available - they're mostly doing 1-2 days a week. But if the above sounds manageable, push your GP (or nhs dentist if you have one) to do a referral.

Is your company using gitflow? Are you personally actually happy with that?

Posted by tab87vn@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 72 comments

aerfen@reddit

You make sure that your code structure mirrors your organisation structure and your teams have aligned autonomy. If your PRs are being reviewed by someone in a different team with different objectives then productivity will grind to a halt.

How is the proposed UK Digital ID different from EU Digital Identity already present in most European countries?

Posted by Rosslefrancais@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 210 comments

aerfen@reddit

Government digital service has a world class engineering team. The myriad of monumental IT fuck ups the government is famous for come when we contract development out to third parties.

Apple Carplay now supports Google Maps Directions on HUD

Posted by theguitardude11@reddit | cars | View on Reddit | 86 comments

Has anyone taken the airplane from a UK city to Cornwall?

Posted by Mental-Risk6949@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 62 comments

aerfen@reddit

My family lives in Cornwall and my now wife has flown out to Gatwick to Newquay to meet me on Boxing Day a couple of times in the past. The flight is pretty painless, but not having a car in Cornwall can be tough if you want to explore, and I highly recommend you do explore. There's loads of little towns all around the county with good food and interesting things to do, but the buses are unreliable and taxis inconsistent without pre booking.

When it's said that a Police dog is trained to detect "cash" is it just sniffing for drugs or is actually trained to sniff out cash?

Posted by TowJamnEarl@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 75 comments

aerfen@reddit

A friend of mine (legally) works with lots of explosives. He has various bits of documentation to present at airports and other venues that use dogs as he can't ever quite rid his clothes of traces of various compounds. Apparently he's commonly asked if he is willing to let the sniffer dogs practice on him.

Has anyone had AC installed in their homes?

Posted by SuperbStorm7853@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 73 comments

aerfen@reddit

We bought a portable unit a few years ago. It only gets used a handful of times a year but when we needed it was a godsend for sleeping. Now we have a baby so it has been requisitioned into the nursery. Seriously considering a second unit!

How do I leave a small company?

Posted by spookydookie@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 69 comments

aerfen@reddit

If you're actually indispensable to them, they should have worked very hard on retaining you by giving you a real stake in the company. If you're burning out and don't stand to make 7+ figures on an exit then walk away.

Working around stupid corporate titles in your resume

Posted by gopster@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 4 comments

aerfen@reddit

Put whatever title best suits the story you're trying to tell in your resume while still being a good faith representation of your duties. If you're going for management track roles then it's fine to put engineering manager on your CV if you have compelling stories to tell that back that up. The titles different companies give roles differs massively, and you'll talk at length about your duties over the last 10 years in any interview process. I wouldn't overthink it.

Where can I get cheap and GOOD eats near Leicester Square?

Posted by muddleagedspred@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 78 comments

aerfen@reddit

Go to Four Seasons @ 12 Gerrard Street. Order the roast duck on rice. Or the 2 combination duck and crispy belly pork on rice. If you're feeling fancy, pop to Maison Bertaux for a cake afterwards.

Thoughts on employee monitoring tools like Monitask, Hubstaff, or Time Doctor?

Posted by CauseIll6803@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 86 comments

aerfen@reddit

I would not do a job that monitored me like this. It's simply not a good way to assess what I'm doing. I spend most of my day staring out the window thinking about problems, or talking to people. I'm an adult and I expect to be trusted, and assessed based on my impact to the organisation not my keystrokes.

Working in a bank as a dev?

Posted by Solid-Mix-5174@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 6 comments

aerfen@reddit

How long is a piece of string? What country are you in & what bank are you looking to work for. I imagine working for Goldman Sachs in NYC to be vastly different to Monzo in London.

How do I make engineers more visible?

Posted by barndawe@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 95 comments

aerfen@reddit

Is there any reason why you can't though? If you're particularly proud of a feature you or your team delivered, ask your VP to let you show it off at the all hands. In my experience those tribe and engineering wide meetings are good and all, but visibility is really about those you don't regularly work with remembering you in a positive light, and this can really open doors for you.

How do I make engineers more visible?

Posted by barndawe@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 95 comments

aerfen@reddit

In my experience it's the people who talk in the all hands style meeting that get the visibility, even if they're shouting out other people in the slides. Have engineers do the demos, present the slides etc. Most engineers will hate doing this but public speaking is a valuable skill that can be learned. Often the opportunity to talk won't be offered outright as most will assume engineers don't want to do it. But volunteering will usually be met with enthusiasm and future opportunities.

Do you think the current trend (6 - 8 rounds of interviews) actually helps hire good engineers?

Posted by creative-java-coffee@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 216 comments

aerfen@reddit

It selects for people without kids, families, obligations. My company believes that's not a good thing, we've acknowledged that interviewing is flawed and put a big focus on behaviours & culture with a small 1 hour tech test (no leetcode, no takehome) and treat the probation period as a trial. There's no substitute for 3 months of working together to get a feel for a person.

Feeling uneasy about Meta and WhatsApp. Who do you trust more with your data: the US or China?

Posted by Early-Slice-6325@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 48 comments

aerfen@reddit

Yes the servers which provided the software to the phones was compromised. Signal doesn't directly provide the software to Android and iPhones. Their respective app stores do. Hence why I mentioned needing Apple or Google to be in on it. Of course, if you want to be 100% secure you need to meet in person in the middle of nowhere beyond eavesdroppers and CCTV, and critically, trust the person you are speaking with. And with signal, you need to trust that your phone is not compromised, and that the person you are speaking with has also not had their phone compromised, and that person is not showing your messages to others. But you can have a reasonable degree of confidence that the protocol itself is sound and not being eavesdropped on. The difference with Encrochat was that it was much easier to infiltrate the supply chain to get compromised versions of the app on everyone's phone.

What phone number's live rent free in your head, and can you remember what they were for?

Posted by LaraStardust@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 56 comments

Feeling uneasy about Meta and WhatsApp. Who do you trust more with your data: the US or China?

Posted by Early-Slice-6325@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 48 comments

aerfen@reddit

The whole point of end to end encryption is that the servers never see unencrypted messages, and never hold the keys. It doesn't matter if the servers are compromised, there's nothing for them to exfiltrate. Encrochat was a totally different deal. The compromise was to the software on the phones themselves. You'd Apple or Google to be complicit in replacing the Signal binaries on the app store with compromised versions.

Feeling uneasy about Meta and WhatsApp. Who do you trust more with your data: the US or China?

Posted by Early-Slice-6325@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 48 comments

aerfen@reddit

End to end encryption only guarantees that no man in the middle can decrypt the messages in-flight. If the physical phone at either end of the conversation is compromised then all bets are off - as you can just open Signal and read the message. That's what Cellebrite managed to do with an Android phone.

Feeling uneasy about Meta and WhatsApp. Who do you trust more with your data: the US or China?

Posted by Early-Slice-6325@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 48 comments

aerfen@reddit

Signal is still the best. Most of my friends and family use it but we're a techy bunch. I deleted Facebook, but still keep WhatsApp because there's no way around it. Parent teacher association, work social chats, NCT groups etc all use it exclusively. WhatsApp use the signal protocol for full e2e encryption, and there's no evidence to suggest that Facebook holds the keys to open our chats, but they absolutely do hold the metadata - who you are talking to and when.

Ask Experienced Devs Weekly Thread: A weekly thread for inexperienced developers to ask experienced ones

Posted by AutoModerator@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 140 comments

aerfen@reddit

I echo what /u/nutrecht said, even with decades of experience I think it's critical to spend some time delivering in the way the organisation is used to before trying to introduce change. You'll build trust with the team, vs someone who comes in guns blazing when new, and you'll also learn the real pain points to be able to build a case for change. Once you've managed to get a small improvement into the process, and demonstrate the value, you actually stand a chance of persuading people to make further changes. As a newbie, you've got to build your influence gradually by being pragmatic, reliable, and personable. Being right isn't enough, even if you are.

How to best teach new aspiring devs?

Posted by kimesh97@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 36 comments

aerfen@reddit

If they've never done any programming ever then I think I'd start with [Scratch](https://scratch.mit.edu). You can explain concepts without the need to worry about syntax, tools, compilers, etc

I am now sole developer in team. How to take advantage of this situation?

Posted by SauravKumaR301@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 200 comments

aerfen@reddit

I'm in the UK. They can make someone redundant, meaning paying your notice period and tenure based redundancy, but they can't then fill the role with someone else. You'd have an easy unfair dismissal claim.

I am now sole developer in team. How to take advantage of this situation?

Posted by SauravKumaR301@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 200 comments

Does anyone actually like the new LED street lights?

Posted by AnonymousTimewaster@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 156 comments

aerfen@reddit

Low pressure sodium vapour lamps are actually extremely energy efficient. It's just they produce a single wavelength of light, which, while nostalgic, is actually really bad for both depth perception as well as picking out dark objects in the dark. So the move to white LEDs is more about safety than energy.

Which famous person/ person in the public eye do you hate for a petty or unclear reason?

Posted by Illustrious-Log-3142@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 1825 comments

aerfen@reddit

For me it is Brian Cox. When I was in 6th form, before he was all over the telly, he came to our science society and gave a lecture. It was pretty much in the style of his early TV shows. Lots of superlatives about the wonders of the universe. Most of us were studying physics, and asked lots of technical questions, which he completely dismissed and was quite standoffish about. For what it's worth, I think he does a great job of science communication these days, but that rubbed me the wrong way and I've never 'quite' forgiven him for it.

Senior Devs: do you have a portfolio, or do you believe your experience shows in interviews without it?

Posted by Synaqua@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 117 comments

aerfen@reddit

13 YoE Staff Engineer here. I've never been asked to show off side projects, I've never asked interviewees for them either. I have a family, children, hobbies, and a social life I've barely got the time to keep together. If you want your engineers to have lots of side projects outside of work, you're inherently selecting for a narrow group of candidates.

Mentoring an angry mentee.

Posted by gollyned@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 114 comments

aerfen@reddit

I try to coach my engineers that no code is written in a vacuum. Without the context of what was going on at the time we can't accurately judge the code. All we can do is to assume the engineer did the best they could with what time and knowledge was available, and make a best effort to leave things better than we found them.

Deployment gatekeepers

Posted by curiousNarwhal69@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 101 comments

aerfen@reddit

I'm at a mid sized (300 employees, 150 in tech/product) UK based fintech. We have approvers groups for each major project. Senior+ engineers who prove themselves to be good custodians can apply to be added to the group. The Staff+ engineers approve the members of the groups. Once you have a tick from the required approver group (as well as the test suites, and static analysis gates) you can merge with main and deploy to live. Depending on the project you can go from PR raised to code in users hands in between 30 minutes and 2 hours. We're a regulated company working in a regulated industry, and have successfully been audited. We don't see any value in adding extra bureaucracy. Our engineers know our product best and are best placed to approve.

How to find high paying .NET roles in UK?

Posted by TechnoAndy94@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 26 comments

aerfen@reddit

Research the London based companies that use C#. Look at the careers pages for those companies. Follow CTOs, VP of engineering, and Staff/Principal engineers on linkedin. Apply when they post about suitable openings. ClearBank, JustEat, Checkout.com, Asos, Sky are a few that come to mind of the top of my head.

Does it look bad if I go from a senior engineer position to just an engineer?

Posted by 2TrikPony@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 102 comments

aerfen@reddit

I've used the term "acting" in my CV in the past. A good few years ago I had a senior engineer title but I was the team lead for my team. That's the job I was doing so I said "acting team lead" on my CV. I was clear with what my skills were, what my salary & package expectations were and nobody questioned it. I got multiple job offers against that CV.

Ebay - Sold and sent an expensive item. Buyer is claiming the item wasn't fully received and has requested a full refund. Feels like a scam - what do I do?

Posted by HiImPete@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 54 comments

aerfen@reddit

Their default stance is to side with the buyer, but if you get to talk to an actual human then they can be a bit more nuanced. My wife sold a camera leans and someone tried this but after getting through to support who saw she's been a consistent ebayer for the better part of 2 decades with no bad feedback ever, they closed down the return request no issues.

What are some phrases in the UK that would mystify the US?

Posted by lewiscmahon@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 676 comments

aerfen@reddit

Septic tank = yank is Cockney rhyming slang for an American. I work with a lot of Aussies and they then shorten that to seppo. It's sort of a good humoured insult.

What are some phrases in the UK that would mystify the US?

Posted by lewiscmahon@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 676 comments

aerfen@reddit

I was on holiday with some friends in Amsterdam many years ago. We got chatting to a group of seppos, and ended up spending a couple of days hanging out. At one point my friend asked one of the yanks if she could bum a fag. Two nations separated by a common language...

Why is the UK so good in the Paralympics?

Posted by MrMrsPotts@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 213 comments

aerfen@reddit

We're also pretty good at the main Olympics. There was lots of funding poured into school sports in the late 90s and early 00s by the UK government and national lottery. Look at our gold medal tally from Rio 2016 which is when most of those going through school in the 90s and 00s got to peak Olympian age. We came second to USA, beating China.

Why did you sell your vehicle to We Buy Any Car?

Posted by ChairmanSunYatSen@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 61 comments

aerfen@reddit

I had 3 days to get rid of the car else I'd need to pay parking and insurance on 2 cars. They offered a decent price vs the issues it had. I could maybe have got another 10% if I had the time to find a private buyer, but under the circumstances getting rid quickly and painlessly was worth it.

Am I allowed to change my electricity provider if I am renting?

Posted by Gitgud90@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 12 comments

aerfen@reddit

You won't save much by switching, but if you are the bill payer you are entitled to switch to whoever you choose. Your only obligation is to inform the landlord of the details before you move out.

What things can you get for free in the UK that most people think you have to pay for?

Posted by thewibbler@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 1244 comments

aerfen@reddit

OU degrees are fully recognised degrees. In my industry (software engineering) we love an OU degree because it tends to imply a good self-starter sort of attitude. If you've managed to get a degree off your own back without the structure of a regular university, often while also working full time, or with children or whatever, that's a really good sign.

Immigrants in the UK , how did you integrate ?

Posted by greenlion456@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 109 comments

aerfen@reddit

My grandma always said that dinner is the big meal. So you could either have breakfast lunch and dinner, or breakfast dinner and tea. Depending on what was going on that day. For me, dinner is the evening meal though.

Why aren't microwave ovens for the home more powerful?

Posted by chicory_root@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 319 comments

If I get a job offer over the phone am I expected to accept it straight away?

Posted by chambo143@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 95 comments

aerfen@reddit

You can always say something like "the offer sounds good and I would be minded to accept, pending review of the full paperwork". That signals your intent to accept but gives you the wiggle room to decline later if you get a better offer elsewhere.

Is FTX not protected by regulatory agencies such as the FCA?

Posted by LezFokenAveIt@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 15 comments

aerfen@reddit

If your broker goes bankrupt and they are FSCS protected you will get any cash balance up to 85k reimbursed by the UK government. Any shares you hold, still exist, and you still own them. For example if Hargreaves Lansdown were to go bankrupt and you held Apple shares through them, you still own those Apple shares. They were never owned by HL. They just managed them for you.

I'm currently sleeping in my mother's council house, she passed away last week after a short illness. What can I do?

Posted by tarifsaredue@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 115 comments

aerfen@reddit

You do not inherit a person's debts. They may be settled from the estate if she had assets or cash, but they will never become your debts.

What British thing have you introduced to someone from overseas and it left them even more confused?

Posted by UnfinishedThings@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 1469 comments