if you want stable and reliable software, give developers stable and reliable employment

@zachleat what makes you think corporations want stable and reliable software?

@zachleat Are we on strike? This is almost a strike slogan. Let's go on strike.

@slab_bulkhead because corporations like money

@zachleat @westbrook Oh wow, you suddenly got 10X more smart!

<hollywood-logic>
But be sure to take them off before your date so you become 10X more pretty.
</hollywood-logic>

@zachleat if I expect to be the one who is responsible for the system for years, I'm going to make a damned fine system that doesn't cause me (or anyone else) any trouble.

@zachleat @slab_bulkhead uh oh, look who's here, it's shareholder primacy

@jaredwhite @zachleat Just wait till I turn my hat backwards and you see me work 10x harder!

🤪

@westbrook @jaredwhite it’s time for a MONTAGE

@zachleat But AI... (gets headbutted)

@zachleat @westbrook cue “Careless Whisper” sax and some slow-mo hair tossing

@zachleat during the 1980s, when asked by potential employers "what commitment can you give us?" my response was always "exactly the commitment you can give to me."

@zachleat while I support stability for developers (union, anyone?), it sometimes goes too far. I have been in attrition-averse companies where complacent well-tenured engineers deliver flaky software. Those engineers have high cultural inertia so it is difficult to get them to start caring about robustness. If you can give your good developers confidence in their job stability while removing bad apples from your team, that's the dream.

@zachleat Fred Brooks second corollary

follow me for incredibly controversial and spicy takes on software development

@zachleat yes, and, unlimited Trader Joe's Takis.

@zachleat And a union

@davatron5000 well wait which of these are higher priority

@Aaron

@zachleat nah, I personally love the idea of struggling for my entire career and not having a retirement, while some Great People That Clearly Work Hard And Who We All Should Idolize make more money than a single person could possible need in multiple lifetimes.

@zachleat You mean programmers write better software when they don't feel like trapped rats? I am *shocked*, sir!