chuck4932

> Just imagine for a second, that a programmer like this, or a group like Future Crew decides to...focus on just one goal – create a small code that steals your financial data or helps to re-calibrate a Nuclear Reactor. How do you think, would they succeed?

These are no doubt talented coders but the article makes out that they posses some kind of superpower and can do whatever they want with computers. Coding graphics like that in assembler is an impressive feat but it in no way means that these guys could just "break the Windows or Apple integrated security systems" if they wanted to.

> The stigma that software devs turned red team are “full of bad habits and security faux pas”

I understand the stereotype of software developers not caring about security as I have seen it first hand myself. But why would a software dev who became a pen tester have any more bad habits then somebody who was not a software dev before?

> Practised agile, proper documentation and mid night design brain storming session

What does any of that have to do with being remote? And why is having to work at midnight a good thing?

My problem is not with releasing new code every 2 weeks. I am 100% in favour of that I try and keep my releases as small and as frequent as possible.

My problem is with planning/grooming/reviewing/presenting every single 2 week release. I think it should be up to the developer to decide how often they release new code not the product manager or anybody else. Of course it is always better to release often and in small amounts but this is not always possible hence why it should be at the developer's discretion.

The "Terminal juniority" part really resonates with me. Especially about programmers focusing on "the low-yield, easy stuff that the business doesn’t actually need but that is “safe”".

But isn't it a rule in SCRUM that no new cards can be introduced in the middle of a sprint? And isn't it also a rule two co-dependent cards cannot be done in the same sprint? (i.e. if card B depends on card A being finished).

I will look into Kanban since it has been suggested many times here.

However, I'm skeptical of these rigid processes in general. I dont see the need for them unless you have extremely strict requirements from management.

I don't see whats wrong with having somebody who is a project manager who understands the work being done and who coordinates with the developers to ensure it gets done in time. In other places it would have been like Project Manger says "we need a feature to do this, this and this, how long do you think it will take?", "I say I will need to spend a few days working on it and then tell you a very rough estimate", after a few days I say "I think it will take at least a month maybe two" or something like that. If I see that there is more work that needs to be done or it will take longer than I initially I thought then I go back to the PM and we re-evaluate what to do. Its not that difficult.

That sounds pretty awesome actually. Apart from the exercise/socialising what was the main activity you did in the monastery? I'm assuming its something religious/faith based?

This doesn't sound like a very good way to gain a deeper understand of technology. I'm not sure if you can really compare religion and spirituality with technology.

Most other developers and hackers I know, myself included, have some of their best ideas and insights when they are NOT focusing on technology or the problem at hand. Also, anecdotally, the majority of these people are not the stereotypical hollywood portrayed geeks who care about nothing other than hacking technology. They are usually well adjusted people with lives that go far beyond their work because most successful developers understand that to be good at your job also requires you to have a healthy and non-obsessive relationship with your work.

So unless you have Aspergers or something like that then this is likely to be a pretty unhealthy way to live your life. Humans require social interaction, time to unwind, physical exercise etc.

True, if you are not in a position to risk leaving this job then I suggest you save up at least 3 months worth of living expenses and then quit. Bottom line is this company is screwing you over.

Wow, what a backwards company. This reminds of how IBM used to measure productivity of programmers by the number of lines of code they've written.

Everybody knows that there is much more work involved in programming than just typing characters into an IDE. I've never heard of any programming contract jobs that were as strict on hours as this. Whats stopping you from leaving and explaining exactly what you just wrote to the client? You are getting a very bad deal.