Q: What’s the fastest way to run a project into the ground? A: Ask the team how long it’ll take, then give them a shorter amount of time to complete it. Recursive Failure Once upon a time, I worked on a project that had the stink of death about it. It was old code, had […]
Rants
An Email To Revolut Customer Services
Hi, Just some background for context: My partner and I got Revolut cards to come to the US last week. We’d both tried to use the cards online to verify they’d work (to pay for the ESTA fees) and all seemed to be well. At the airport, I tried to use the card to pay […]
Your Developers are Miserable and Are Going to Quit
Dear Software Development Managers, I’ve been lucky enough to work with a fair few development teams over the years, both here and in Canada (you’d have to ask them if that feeling is reciprocated). As well as getting involved with some good projects and taking part in a multitude of technical discussions, I’ve also been […]
Using Flexi-Time Like a Boss
I’m pretty lucky (from what I hear) in that our company operates a flexi-time system. I used to work strict 9:00-5:30 years ago but it never real fit well with software development. It’s not often that you’ll get to the end of a task bang on finishing time so you find yourself either working late […]
So You’re a Professional Web Developer Are you?
Over the past few months, I’ve been helping out with recruitment for one of our offices by putting together a coding test and then marking the results. It’s been eye-opening. Also part soul destroying and tear inducing. At one point I stopped to look for the hidden camera, expecting a ghostly Jeremy Beadle to appear […]
Chatting with Natwest Customer Services
My online banking with Natwest wasn’t working so I thought I’d try their live chat support. Chat An advisor will be with you shortly. While waiting to be connected, don’t forget you might still be able to find the answer to your question and many more by using our ‘Help 24×7’. During this chat you […]
This week’s most horrifying code
And the winner of this week’s most horrifying code goes to this snippet: Dictionary<string, Dictionary<GeoDirection, Dictionary<bool, List<Route>>>> routes = new Dictionary<string, Dictionary<GeoDirection, Dictionary<bool, List<Route>>>>(); Generic, eh.
Code Hell: JavaScript Error Messages
When you’re tasked to make changes to a legacy 3000+ line JavaScript file, seeing this at the start doesn’t inspire confidence: // ErrorMessage this._EventLocationControl_JS_NoClientDataHolder_ErrorMessage = config.EventLocationControl_JS_NoClientDataHolder_ErrorMessage; this._EventLocationControl_JS_InvalidMileMarker_ErrorMessage = config.EventLocationControl_JS_InvalidMileMarker_ErrorMessage; this._EventLocationControl_JS_NoDefaultMap_ErrorMessage = config.EventLocationControl_JS_NoDefaultMap_ErrorMessage; this._EventLocationControl_JS_NoMMService_ErrorMessage1 = config.EventLocationControl_JS_NoMMService_ErrorMessage1; this._EventLocationControl_JS_NoMMService_ErrorMessage2 = config.EventLocationControl_JS_NoMMService_ErrorMessage2; this._EventLocationControl_JS_NoMMServiceRoadway_ErrorMessage = config.EventLocationControl_JS_NoMMServiceRoadway_ErrorMessage; this._EventLocationControl_JS_LoadDirection_ErrorMessage = config.EventLocationControl_JS_LoadDirection_ErrorMessage; this._EventLocationControl_JS_NoMMCrossStreet_ErrorMessage = config.EventLocationControl_JS_NoMMCrossStreet_ErrorMessage; this._EventLocationControl_JS_NoMMService_ErrorMessage3 = config.EventLocationControl_JS_NoMMService_ErrorMessage3; this._EventLocationControl_JS_NoMMService_ErrorMessage4 = config.EventLocationControl_JS_NoMMService_ErrorMessage4; this._EventLocationControl_JS_NoMMService_ErrorMessage5 = […]
Get, y’know, thingy
Today’s code discovery: _user = userRepository.GetUserByEmail(UserName); Genius.
Lies and Guesswork – 123-reg Support
I got an email through from Nominet telling me that one of my domains was due to expire. “That’s weird,” I thought to myself, “I didn’t get any notification from 123-reg.” So, I logged into my account and saw the “The following service(s) will soon expire!” message. I clicked through to that and got an empty […]