"I think they're on to us!" --Jeff Dean, March 2001

[jazzfish]

Sometimes I make the wrong decision, like going to work at Waldens instead of delivering pizzas.

But sometimes the decision that gets made for me is the right one, like no longer working in software testing or documentation.

So it all works out in the end. I guess. Everything Happens For A Reason.

I did that LJ compatibility thing. I'm not real impressed, honestly... between the ability to get over one hundred percent compatibility and its asking 'Who are you?' (which is really asking 'Who do you think you are?') it's kind of cute, but probably not worth the 15 minutes of thought I put into it. As I recall I'm mostly compatible with people I've not met.

Comments

"Failed"?

[jazzfish]

But you have to know that the little voice in the back of my head, mocking me, pushing me to admit we've failed, admit I've failed, is yours.

If you've failed I rather doubt it's due to anything you've done or not done. Unless you actually believe that one tester (also responsible for documentation), plus coders (who, let's face it, don't give a shit about testing beyond the most basic level), will ever be sufficient to test a complex product. In which case I shrug and say "Looks like Kayla's decided to be a coder after all."

I don't think that's so, though. So, I don't know why the situation is a nigh-rehash of inVizeForms. But much like you can't take credit for everything your team does, you can't shoulder responsibility for all their failures. Did you do your job (defined as "the tasks you were assigned by your boss") to the best of your ability? Then you haven't failed.

---

You know why I don't want to work in testing/documentation? Because I realised a couple weeks or so that I like having a little bloody respect for doing my job. Testing sort of implies no respect-- testers are so far down, they can't even see the bottom of the totem pole. But I knew that going into testing.

What I didn't expect was the nigh-palpable animosity that I got from coders. "Stop working so hard!" "Stop finding all these bugs!" "Shut up about it and let us release already!" After about four months at Syncad, it finally got to me, and I coasted until I got cut.

I also didn't expect quite so little respect for documentation, although in retrospect that makes sense as well. It's not like the program won't run without a manual, so fuck it. No point in coders wasting their valuable time helping me do my job, since it's not like I can help them do theirs.

You are, in fact, the only person I have ever gotten any amount of respect from for doing my job. And I can't rely on getting to work with/for you for the rest of my life. So, I'm going back to school full-time in the fall. I'm getting an English degree, probably paired with a Theatre major. And I'm going to do something with my life that will earn me at least a bit of respect from my coworkers, because being told daily "You and your job are worthless" by each and every person at my workplace is not good for me.

Re: "Failed"?

[narquelion.livejournal.com]

I will never be able to be just a coder, even when I'm playing one on TV. There's a certain air of subversion about me. I'm unwilling to give up my ethics, unwilling to close my eyes to common sense again.

I know that in some sense this doesn't matter. If I can't effect any change on the world, I'm no better than the others. If anything, they have the excuse of ignorance, while I know I've failed.

As to the rest of what you're saying: I know people are stupid. I deal with them too. Granted, I just get constantly asked, "Why, oh why can't you be just a normal coder?" I get to keep my job. For all that I start to not want it, I at least get the option to balance my subversiveness with my desire/need for employment.

I'm glad to be excepted, somewhat, from my so-called profession when it comes to the Tucker bitterness department. Of course I respect you - do I look insane? I've seen you do these things, which as you point out are both more difficult and more thankless than my own chosen form of emotional masochism masquerading as employment, and you're exceptionally good at it. The best I've ever met. Without question. And I understand how frustrating it is, knowing that if you were one of those normal incompetents or barely-competent uncaring people the field currently attracts, you wouldn't have the problems you do. It means that, though I can hope, I can't expect to ever have as good a partner again.

I know the respect of one worthwhile person won't make up for the idiots. I know this because sometimes you're that person. Sometimes it's worth the effort to say it anyway.