It is. Also, people don't want to do it for any amount of money.
I quit a previous job and took less money because I got moved to maintain the crumbling Forte4GL core system - I did get a handsome raise for that, but the writing was also on the wall as they were also working to replace it. Migration project has been ongoing for 8 years and is nowhere near done, I might have been able to retire before it's completed though. It was also soul-sucking.
> It is. Also, people don't want to do it for any amount of money.
Like many things, there are people who actually are interested in doing this kind of thing. But since it isn't rewarded in any way, hell, because it's actively punished by many organizations (often by the time you need to look for a new job and you lack the right bullet points to hire you), you're not going to find anybody willing to do it, who actually would like to do it.
But there are people that love doing it. My wife is an example of one. To her is it a great mystery novel where she gets to tease out all of the details and try to understand why things were built the way they were. Then try to make them 'better'.
Of course, she was a government employee (mil) and her career path was set regardless of what she actually did and the pay level was set in stone regardless of what she did as well. So there is that.
> Of course, she was a government employee (mil) and her career path was set regardless of what she actually did and the pay level was set in stone regardless of what she did as well. So there is that.
I mean, this is only relevant insofar as that this position allowed her to pursue her interest in what kind of programming she wanted to do. In any private company, the incentives are so perverse that she wouldn't have been able to do any of it, but that wouldn't change her preferences. It's just further indication that, given the right environment, there are people willing to do this kind of thing.
this. I like this too. but then, in practice, I very rarely get a green flag to actully make it better. Not until is do or die. And by that point necessity forces a rush job, so it's not actually made better, just patched up to live another 'day'
Only if you optimize for your current salary instead of optimizing for your future career prospects.
There isn't a reasonable amount of money (it would have to be twice my current salary) for me to accept a job doing VB6 or any other job that would endanger my future employment prospects.
If I can retire one my savings after the job is done I don't care about future prospects. I'd rather work on [insert any hobby with no commercial value] at home than go to work.
Exactly, that’s why I said any “reasonable” amount. It usually takes me less than a month to find a job as a bog standard “enterprise developer” when I need the “right now” job or contract. It would take me a lot longer if my resume showed that I’ve been maintaining legacy software for two years and wasn’t doing Resume Driven Development.
I would have to spend a few months doing some work I could post on Github using new technology (something I never do).
I quit a previous job and took less money because I got moved to maintain the crumbling Forte4GL core system - I did get a handsome raise for that, but the writing was also on the wall as they were also working to replace it. Migration project has been ongoing for 8 years and is nowhere near done, I might have been able to retire before it's completed though. It was also soul-sucking.