Be sure to at least voice it once, however mildly, that this codebase is shit.
When you leave, kindly remind them that this codebase is shit, and is the one reason why you've never even considered staying...
Hopefully, with some luck, they'll address the issue in some way, and the "next guy" won't go #4...
Be sure to at least voice it once, however mildly, that this codebase is shit.
When you leave, kindly remind them that this codebase is shit, and is the one reason why you've never even considered staying...
Hopefully, with some luck, they'll address the issue in some way, and the "next guy" won't go #4...
Everyone involved already knows the codebase is shit. The previous three(!) developers who worked on it have all quit, and I understand them. But like I said, the client won't pay for a rewrite, because it "works". So this zombie will live to suck another day.
Out of curiosity, is the problem a cheap client? I have seen situations where the client knows their system is bad, but are unwilling to make any significant investment in it. Quick patches accrete until you get a "pearl" such as you have.
If the client is not cheap, maybe they just need the correct business case for improving/rewriting some part of the system. Reasons may include:
And what you're doing is essentially maintaining the code, or adding new features?
So far mostly maintenence, but some bigger projects are in the pipeline. The dread keeps me awake at night.
Out of curiosity, is the problem a cheap client? I have seen situations where the client knows their system is bad, but are unwilling to make any significant investment in it. Quick patches accrete until you get a "pearl" such as you have.
I'm not sure how cheap they are. I assume they are because they keep on to a 15-year old project, but maybe i misunderstand. Maybe I should lobby for a rewrite. Later, when I'm not so new on the job. And if I'm still around.
"Everyone involved knows the codebase is shit" was probably an overstatement. Everyone who's wrestled with it certainly knows. My bosses have some idea, I think. The client, I don't know. The users seem relatively happy, for some reason I can't quite understand. Old habits, probably.
Why not look for a new job while you're still employed and bail out the moment you find one?
Just don't let anyone at your current job know you're searching. They aren't too happy if they find out.
Also, if you quit, make sure to give a couple week's notice (or whatever's required by law, if you have a law which covers this). I quit one of my summer jobs at a grocery chain once without notice and they blacklisted me from ever working there again.
A few years ago the group I was working with started letting people go. I worked for a large company, so I began looking for a transfer so that I wouldn't be laid off too. I found one and move my family across the U.S. After about two months I realized that the group I worked remotely with (they were in another state) had no idea what they were doing.
To this day it is the worst code I've every seen. I wasn't aware that a group of people could write such hideous and un-maintainable code. You would think, way before it got to that point it would just implode and consume itself. But somehow it just go more unwieldy. It was Java, with a JBoss server that took minutes to start, had huge XML files that serialized all the data, and could only be stopped by using the linux 'kill' command.
And the customer paid millions for it. In the span of one year, I was never even able to get the software to build, yet alone run. I am not exaggerating. The team would change the design of the system every few days, and never talk to anyone else about it. Add a few developers doing that, and a boss who was only concerned with nice suits, good watches, and climbing the corporate ladder selling snake oil, and you had a nightmare.
There was no fixing it. I found another job. I bet they are still using it, and I feel sorry for whomever has come in contact with it. I came to the hard realization that there are some groups out there where everyone is in one of two groups: those too stupid to leave, and those too stuck to leave.
Orymus3, on 17 Jun 2014 - 1:42 PM, said:
And what you're doing is essentially maintaining the code, or adding new features?
So far mostly maintenence, but some bigger projects are in the pipeline. The dread keeps me awake at night.
Find something else quickly then :) (before the storm hits)
If people in general knew how web applications are often written, nobody would dare use the internet.
