Re: unreproducable bugs
On 7/15/05, Manoj Srivastava va, manoj <srivasta@debian.org> wrote:
> What's with the recent push to get every little things written
> down into policy, so the developer no longer is required to have an
> ability to think, or exercise any judgement whatsoever?
Welcome to the software industry in 2005. If you haven't yet
encountered a "senior software engineer" with three degrees and a
six-figure salary who couldn't debug his way out of a paper bag, you
work in a very different part of the industry than I do. [Note that I
am not accusing Nico or anyone else in Debian of fitting this
description.]
The threshold at which it is actually rather improbable that one
totally lacks the capacity for independent judgment seems to be
"principal engineer" -- a director equivalent in many large companies.
I have worked with a number of junior staff whose performance
exceeded my expectations for their level of seniority -- including at
least one guy with a so-so high school education who was more able
than several MSCS's I have known -- but they are very much the
exceptions rather than the rule.
It's not the lack of (programming or human) language skills that's the
problem -- it's the lack of thinking skills. I don't know if they can
be taught, but they certainly aren't being taught. This problem is
endemic in the US educational system -- reputed to be worse in
California than almost anywhere else, even most of the Deep South --
and if my personal experience is any guide there are a few other
countries that are in similar positions.
Formal evaluation processes don't seem to do jack to keep the nitwits
out. The only thing I've ever seen work is a self-selected review
team with anonymous blackball authority and a few seriously cranky
members. That, of course, has its own problems; but it does work, at
least for a while.
Cheers,
- Michael
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