I started writing a reply about how the context is very different between indie side projects and your work environment, but then your post morphed into a comment about the role of a programmer in an organisation, and so did my reply.
Firstly, I sense you are frustrated in your current post and I sense you are not in step with your management or perhaps not even in step with your coworkers. I sympathize with your predicament. If I had any advice it's that you cast around for a position that's more in line with your principles and goals (don't quit your current job till you find that.)
Personally I've been on all sides in the myself. I've been the principled programmer. I've been the one dedicated to quality. I've been the manager. I've been the person responsible for the business staying in business.
Yeah its nice to adopt the "code my problem, business not" position. It seems like the moral high ground. But businesses are all about balance. They have to balance things like income, and happy customers with tech debt and so on. Having programmers (or anyone for that matter) working -against- the big picture is not ultimately useful and can do more harm than good.
I don't always agree with my team and they often don't agree with me. But ultimately I'm responsible so (sometimes tough) decisions have to be made. The most successful employees are those who acknowledge that this isn't necessarily the best way to do something, but strive anyway to make it a success.
I wish I had the time and money to let programmers just spend forever building stuff and never shipping. They most definitely wish that. But we live in a real world with constraints and the reality is we need a lot more than perfect code.
Of course some places are just impossible to work at, where everything is rushed and there is no balance either. And then it sucks to be you.
> Yeah its nice to adopt the "code my problem, business not" position. It seems like the moral high ground.
What? No.
It's the economically and humanly well-balanced position. I got a wife whom I love to spend time with and I don't want to live on the computer. 8 hours is already way too much. I do what is expected of me and maybe a little more, for the rest they'll have to pay extra or give me parts of the profit.
If not, they'll get baseline performance.
It is always so mind-bendingly odd to watch people claim that you can go above and beyond as if that has zero side effects on any other aspects of your life.
Firstly, I sense you are frustrated in your current post and I sense you are not in step with your management or perhaps not even in step with your coworkers. I sympathize with your predicament. If I had any advice it's that you cast around for a position that's more in line with your principles and goals (don't quit your current job till you find that.)
Personally I've been on all sides in the myself. I've been the principled programmer. I've been the one dedicated to quality. I've been the manager. I've been the person responsible for the business staying in business.
Yeah its nice to adopt the "code my problem, business not" position. It seems like the moral high ground. But businesses are all about balance. They have to balance things like income, and happy customers with tech debt and so on. Having programmers (or anyone for that matter) working -against- the big picture is not ultimately useful and can do more harm than good.
I don't always agree with my team and they often don't agree with me. But ultimately I'm responsible so (sometimes tough) decisions have to be made. The most successful employees are those who acknowledge that this isn't necessarily the best way to do something, but strive anyway to make it a success.
I wish I had the time and money to let programmers just spend forever building stuff and never shipping. They most definitely wish that. But we live in a real world with constraints and the reality is we need a lot more than perfect code.
Of course some places are just impossible to work at, where everything is rushed and there is no balance either. And then it sucks to be you.