Impossible

[ljplicease]

Ten things which make my job impossible:

1. the basic concept of converting a complicated serial algorithm (which nobody understands well) to run in parallel is flawed
2. none of the people who originally wrote the serial code have been at The Company in years
3. in fact due to massive programmer rotation there are several layers of coding styles involved
4. there is actually one coding style-aspect which is persistent: poor to non-existent documentation
5. Adil and I are the only ones who has any motivation to keep parallel abstraction working
6. parallel code is, by its very nature, fragile, and developers who don't have any motivation to keep it working are going to break it
7. Jeff says "zeroth order" too often, making me want to slap him
8. generally Jeff opens his mouth far too often
9. the customers have unrealistic expectations about what parallel will actually do for timing and abstraction
10. and ... most of all BASIC ASSUMPTIONS THAT THEY MADE AND TOLD ME ALL ALONG TURNED OUT TO BE TOTALLY FALSE YESTERDAY.

Before I left to go to Australia I had actually accomplished the impossible. I actually got parallel abstraction to work. As soon as I got back I found out that Jeff had fucked it up. I didn't realize until last night just how badly he had fucked it up. It doesn't matter that he didn't intend to fuck it up; it doesn't make me any less angry at him.

Comments

[remonstrare.livejournal.com]

At least you're getting paid for programming, and you're not in some unrelated job where your skills are atrophying and despite writing grade-A code every day, nothing you do is counting towards "industry experience" because you're not getting paid for it.

Feel the love.

[plicease]

I have much to be thankful for, it’s true. There are many good things about the place that I work, and I never forget that. The people I work with are all top notch and understand at least one or two things very well. The problem is, as with all large organizations, the politics saps my energy to the point that my patience with people becomes nil.

I appreciate your comment though. How on earth did you come across my entry?

[remonstrare.livejournal.com]

Random clicking. You are on the friends list of the startloadsave (?) adventure gaming community.

In case you're wondering why I'm randomly clicking, it's because I'm bored at work (yes, shift-based business tech support. Nothing to do at the weekend but we give it 24/7 anyway)