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What if I build a tiny office in my backyard that I can show I only use for work? At least the capital costs can be deducted I presume? A coworker of mine did that for his home addition because he worked remotely and had servers and such in. Even a mechanic’s garage can be used for other purposes anyway the instant someone brings family to work for a short visit or bring your daughter to work day, so I don’t see how a dedicated structure wouldn’t count for some tax help. The standard deduction is a lot higher now and a lot of deductions I used to take frequently are just gone, so my refunds are actually not that great anymore.
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Sep 11, 2019 00:41
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If your refunds were great (or, indeed, nonzero), you were over-withholding.
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Sep 11, 2019 00:48
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I should qualify that better but I underwirhheld frequently even at 1 for married and still barely met the cut-off for having to pay interest. I haven’t gotten a refund or got one less than $500 for like 5 years but once under-withheld and paid a penalty negating all other years of interest otherwise.
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Sep 11, 2019 02:12
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Is speaking at conferences even worth mentioning in CV? It feels like the sort of companies that care about candidate's involvement in the community would already find out when doing their basic dilligence, while those that do not care... well, they do not care. 
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Sep 15, 2019 19:48
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Absolutely, at least if they’re respectable conferences
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Sep 15, 2019 19:59
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Xarn posted:Is speaking at conferences even worth mentioning in CV? It feels like the sort of companies that care about candidate's involvement in the community would already find out when doing their basic dilligence, while those that do not care... well, they do not care. Certainly. Speaking at any event ought to distinguish you from >90% of the other applicants.
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Sep 16, 2019 14:32
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Started looking in May for a company that had "opportunity" to move up into management or at least top tier IC roles. Hit 2 hiring freezes, 1 company with just the worst HR person, had 3 companies tell me that they didn't forsee themselves ever having a position for me to move into (including one that I was OK with being an IC with, had they asked for clarification), 1 that I didn't say what the guy was looking for with regards to testing. But, I accepted a remote role on Friday! Company that's excited that I want to move into management and a manager (dir engineering) that said, "I love mentoring people so they can take over my job." It's not quite as much $$ as if I had gone with an in-office position, but I'm not going in-office. 4 months of looking, 30~50 resumes sent, 6 late-stage interviews (3 in person). Not the worst.
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Sep 16, 2019 15:13
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What degree of "support engineer" rotation (2 weeks per every 2/3 months) work would you consider long-term acceptable as a software engineer? 1. Field assistance JIRAs / work minor bugs 2. All of the above and the occasional highly escalated tier 3 calls 3. All of the above and the occasional tier 2/3 calls 4. All of the above and daily tier 2/3 calls I'm somewhere between 3 and 4 and it's become something of a scheduled prison sentence. Is it really that great an idea to put your day-to-day computer touching introvert devs on sensitive customer calls?
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Sep 16, 2019 19:23
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Iverron posted:I'm somewhere between 3 and 4 and it's become something of a scheduled prison sentence. Is it really that great an idea to put your day-to-day computer touching introvert devs on sensitive customer calls? I think it depends on what your responsibilities are. Are you the sole customer support representative for these calls, as in, are you directly in contact with the customers and the only one they will talk to about their issues (role 1)? Or are you being pulled in to help resolve code problems with a customer support person acting as the liason (role 2)? I've done both roles - communication with customers (1) as well as engineer support for our regular customer service people (2) - and when I am tasked to be role 1, the expectation is that I will not actually fix anything in code - I will debug and file tickets for another engineer to actually fix. Because, let's face it, most customer support is not fixing actual bugs, so much as educating customers and perhaps using admin privileges to resolve something they can't. In my experience, trying to fix a customer issue while you are in contact with the customer makes for overly-specific fixes that don't help in the long run and lead to inconsistent, buggy behavior. Having to write a ticket out usually clarifies and generalizes the solution, as does having a separate person actually code up the fix. I think it's valuable as an engineer to be aware of the issues customers are having. In my position, our core product is more or less finished so I don't touch it very often, except when I'm walking through a customer issue. As an engineer, it's helpful to see what people are having difficulty with because it may work as intended but still be confusing or not quite suited to particular use cases. Being able to witness this firsthand is much more powerful than reading a JIRA ticket to "improve UI of x". However, if I am doing role 1, I cannot see how I could concentrate for even an hour on any actual coding. My manager knows this and understands that I will be pretty much unavailable for any other work if I am expected to be role 1. I am really only asked when all of our regular people are absent or on vacation, which (so far) has been about 2 weeks per year.
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Sep 16, 2019 19:43
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vonnegutt posted:I think it depends on what your responsibilities are. Are you the sole customer support representative for these calls, as in, are you directly in contact with the customers and the only one they will talk to about their issues (role 1)? Or are you being pulled in to help resolve code problems with a customer support person acting as the liason (role 2)? I would classify this more as role 1 with the caveat that there's usually an actual CSR on the line but our product is complicated enough that CSR turnover is high and knowledge is low. I've beaten the dead horse on that as much as I (professionally) can, but effectively any call we become a part of we become direct representative #1 for all questions concerns and issues. I agree with the point that seeing customer issues live is immensely more valuable than screenshots / vague JIRA messages, but in short this is burning me out and I wish to return to the engineering of software without the always looming threat of putting on my years retired CSR hat.
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Sep 16, 2019 21:15
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I'd say in your position then it hardly matters what is "reasonable"; even if what you're doing were perfectly normal it's still clearly not working for you. Go to management and say "look I'm burning out handling all these customer support requests, can we try something different?" And if they say no, then you start looking for something else.
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Sep 16, 2019 21:43
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I'd say in your position then it hardly matters what is "reasonable"; even if what you're doing were perfectly normal it's still clearly not working for you. Go to management and say "look I'm burning out handling all these customer support requests, can we try something different?" And if they say no, then you start looking for something else. not emptyquoting but this is exactly what I wanted to say.
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Sep 17, 2019 08:10
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Would you take a job in a language you don't really like/care about if it meant moving from only getting to develop sometimes to full-time development, and also a substantial (almost 2x) raise in pay? Or should I hold out for something more aligned with my goals?
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Sep 18, 2019 03:14
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marijuanamancer posted:Would you take a job in a language you don't really like/care about if it meant moving from only getting to develop sometimes to full-time development, and also a substantial (almost 2x) raise in pay? Or should I hold out for something more aligned with my goals? Every language is at least bearable with the right team and environment. A 2x raise is also nothing to sneeze at. I'd go for it, nothing says you have to stop looking while you have new-job, and full time dev probably looks better on the resume.
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Sep 18, 2019 03:27
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marijuanamancer posted:Would you take a job in a language you don't really like/care about if it meant moving from only getting to develop sometimes to full-time development, and also a substantial (almost 2x) raise in pay? Or should I hold out for something more aligned with my goals? Depends on the language, but with few exceptions yes.
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Sep 18, 2019 03:31
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I would not take a PHP job.
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Sep 18, 2019 03:35
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Cool, thanks
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Sep 18, 2019 03:48
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CPColin posted:I would not take a PHP job. Also ABAP (If you do not know it, it is a SAP thing), Perl, and probably some others I don't remember right now.
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Sep 18, 2019 04:41
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CPColin posted:I would not take a PHP job. I get where you’re coming from, but...not even for double pay? For the sake of argument, let’s say the job is otherwise sane, with vcs, CI, code review, all those nice things. Maybe even several tests.
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Sep 18, 2019 07:37
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Nomnom Cookie posted:I get where you’re coming from, but...not even for double pay? For the sake of argument, let’s say the job is otherwise sane, with vcs, CI, code review, all those nice things. Maybe even several tests. The problem is specialising in a language that has either no future or a very toxic future. While 2x pay is not to be ignored, if it is a dead end language you might want to apply to roles that give you a mere 50% raise but much higher future earnings. I would say: avoid COBOL as it pigeonholes you in certain industries and you have to work with other people who build in COBOL.
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Sep 18, 2019 10:16
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I wouldn't write javascript all day every day even for double pay
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Sep 18, 2019 10:18
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Xik posted:I wouldn't write javascript all day every day even for double pay You could work 6 months and have 6 months off? For double pay there are next to no languages that I wouldn't consider.
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Sep 18, 2019 12:11
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For me it would depend on the language and how close to retirement I am (and I only mention retirement because this is the oldie thread, sorry millennial lurkers). If the language has no future then it doesn't matter if you just need to do it for a few years.
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Sep 18, 2019 13:27
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Xik posted:I wouldn't write javascript all day every day even for double pay I thought about this as my answer. Then I imagined myself using typescript on my dev machine and just committing back the javascript it generates. Like using git locally then pushing to an svn remote. I’m sure there is a language so bad it would make me quit/refuse a job, but I haven’t found it yet. Pretty far down the list of criteria for me.
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Sep 18, 2019 13:30
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pokeyman posted:I thought about this as my answer. Then I imagined myself using typescript on my dev machine and just committing back the javascript it generates. Like using git locally then pushing to an svn remote. Salesforce? PHP? Lotus Notes? Do 2 of those even count?
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Sep 18, 2019 13:33
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I've been using a dying language for about a decade now (Perl) and have still managed to move up the career ladder. The downside I recently noticed is that I have no skills with IDEs, because none of them work well with Perl for many reasons.
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Sep 18, 2019 13:51
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lifg posted:I've been using a dying language for about a decade now (Perl) and have still managed to move up the career ladder. You can always apply at Booking.com , they are crazy for Perl and will sponsor your visa. But I wouldn't be surprised if you already work there.
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Sep 18, 2019 14:12
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marijuanamancer posted:Would you take a job in a language you don't really like/care about if it meant moving from only getting to develop sometimes to full-time development, and also a substantial (almost 2x) raise in pay? Or should I hold out for something more aligned with my goals? Absolutely. Moving between full-time dev positions is easier than moving from a not-dev position to a dev position. Keetron posted:The problem is specialising in a language that has either no future or a very toxic future. While 2x pay is not to be ignored, if it is a dead end language you might want to apply to roles that give you a mere 50% raise but much higher future earnings. Languages are just tools. Carpenters aren't thought of as hammer engineers. You don't need to "specialize" in a language unless you're making the language.
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Sep 18, 2019 15:00
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lifg posted:The downside I recently noticed is that I have no skills with IDEs, because none of them work well with Perl for many reasons. I've never noticed IDE expertise being a deciding factor in whether or not someone is hired. And they're really not that hard to learn. They mostly just automate common search and search/replace functionality for you. (And yes, of course there's a lot more that IDEs do, my point is that the features they have that are used the most are just the "where is this code defined?" "who uses this code?" "I'm gonna rename this function across the entire codebase" things)
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Sep 18, 2019 15:20
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2x is a lot of money.... I would probably turn it down if it was something that didn't transfer well and I didn't want to keep doing forever, like any "platform" style job. Salesforce, SAP, etc.
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Sep 18, 2019 15:26
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Keetron posted:You can always apply at Booking.com , they are crazy for Perl and will sponsor your visa. But I wouldn't be surprised if you already work there. I don't, but I'll keep them in mind. Thanks! TooMuchAbstraction posted:I've never noticed IDE expertise being a deciding factor in whether or not someone is hired. And they're really not that hard to learn. They mostly just automate common search and search/replace functionality for you. You're right that its not a big deal. It's just a need-to-learn I noticed recently when working near Java devs. They could do refactoring in one minute with a good IDE that would take me a day of careful and mindless work in Vi.
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Sep 18, 2019 15:42
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CPColin posted:I would not take a PHP job. Yeah, definitely would not take a PHP job. Probably not javascript, though I'd absolutely think about it for 2x money. Keetron posted:You could work 6 months and have 6 months off? For double pay there are next to no languages that I wouldn't consider. Which is a different question altogether, and I would definitely take literally any job that paid the same but gave me 6 months PTO.
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Sep 18, 2019 19:10
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Mao Zedong Thot posted:Probably not javascript, though I'd absolutely think about it for 2x money. drat, lots of JS hate in this oldie thread
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Sep 18, 2019 21:22
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kayakyakr posted:drat, lots of JS hate in this oldie thread I wouldn't hate it if I wouldn't have to see it, touch it, hear about it. The other day we had problems with a newly bought RPi 4 that simply wouldn't boot. We burned the image on the SD card like we did since time immemorial, with dd. My grandparents burned images on SD card with dd. And now this snotty support person shows up: You have to use etcher to burn raspbian on an SD card. WTF is etcher? Is an electron-based desktop app that's doing the same poo poo dd does, while showing loving advertisements.  Of course it didn't work since the board was broken. But yeah, replace dd with a JS app. Soon enough they'll want to have an OS in JS. Not like we didn't try an Java OS, a .NET OS, a OOP-OS already and they all sucked donkey balls. How the gently caress to not hate this new trend? What chance do I have?
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Sep 18, 2019 22:39
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Volguus posted:I wouldn't hate it if I wouldn't have to see it, touch it, hear about it. The other day we had problems with a newly bought RPi 4 that simply wouldn't boot. We burned the image on the SD card like we did since time immemorial, with dd. My grandparents burned images on SD card with dd. And now this snotty support person shows up: You have to use etcher to burn raspbian on an SD card. WTF is etcher? Is an electron-based desktop app that's doing the same poo poo dd does, while showing loving advertisements. Don't forget WebOS But I wouldn't hate on electron that hard. If it wasn't electron, it'd be some other unnecessary fat client. Blame the developer, not the language.
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Sep 18, 2019 22:47
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the concept of shipping a web app disguised as a desktop app has been around ever since the idea of a web app took hold, electron is nothing new.
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Sep 18, 2019 23:14
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Hey people that have gotten to team lead roles: what was the path you followed to get there and how did you get promoted to that position? Was it right place right time? Did it happen due to company growth? Was there churn that helped? Did you bust your rear end with that specific goal in mind? Did you have to change teams/companies for the opportunity? I'm wondering how to approach my next step. Tell me a story.
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Sep 19, 2019 16:17
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Paolomania posted:Hey people that have gotten to team lead roles: what was the path you followed to get there and how did you get promoted to that position? Was it right place right time? Did it happen due to company growth? Was there churn that helped? Did you bust your rear end with that specific goal in mind? Did you have to change teams/companies for the opportunity? Being the most productive, knowledgeable, and professional member of the team when the previous lead moved on. But it was never a solo "because I can write code" thing - it was a combination of -handling PM/POs really well -being able to communicate both to technical and non-technical colleagues -being very fluent in the business domain -proactively being the guy that the rest of the team asked questions to and looked to for guidance -the previous lead moving on
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Sep 19, 2019 16:49
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CPColin posted:I would not take a PHP job. I've heard things about the latest major version that make it sound almost like a bad language instead of a downright toxic one. For double the money.... maaaybe.
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Sep 19, 2019 17:22
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Munkeymon posted:I've heard things about the latest major version that make it sound almost like a bad language instead of a downright toxic one. For double the money.... maaaybe. Double the money? Depends on the contract length. I'd take double the money for a year and then scoot off with my new happy base salary, sure.
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Sep 19, 2019 17:36
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