Developer eagerness turns into resilience May24 '07
As a developer, I've noticed that with any system that you're initially learning, it's easy to have a certain amount of eagerness to fix the areas that need work. Developers like to jump right in and start coding, organizing, and enhancing.
As you come to embrace the entire system, and learn how it really works, that eagerness eventually turns into resilience. In a sense, resilience means you support the system for what it is, and try not to create a lot of re-work. Anything new that's being added to the system should be viewed with skepticism. You should be asking yourself, "Why do we need to add this new thing? Is there already an existing way to achieve this goal?"
Young developers starting new jobs often fall into this trap. They want to make an immediate statement, and show everyone what they can do. They think they have an answer for everything.
On the other hand, the veteran developers at the company know better. The veteran developers don't care to make a statement. They care to minimize the amount of re-work in their daily duties. They understand the system inside and out, and they want to keep things functioning as they are. If it's not broken, why fix it? Solutions should be analyzed and re-analyzed until a consensus is met. No project should be launched without full analysis.
I realized I've been at both ends of the stick. I've been the new, young developer trying to make a statement. I've also been the veteran developer, looking to minimize potential areas of risk.
It's important for the new developers to listen to the veteran developers, and not jump into projects without analysis. Too often there are simpler ways of achieving something that the new developer hasn't learned yet. More importantly, there are reasons why certain things have been put in place. The system is more than just pages of code - it's business logic, which can't be altered by the developers themselves.
At the same time, it's also important for the veteran developers to listen to the new developers. Too often veteran developers fall into the trap of thinking they know it all, and end up shutting out some good, fresh ideas. As a veteran developer, you should never stop learning. Technology changes so fast - it's impossible for one person to know it all.
Categories: Development 
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