On Sunday, April 14, 2002, at 01:54 , Gilmore-Baldwin, John wrote:
> I can't imagine a quicker way to destroy those last two qualities (eager > and motivated) than to laugh at them for doing a little research (rtfm, > so to speak), finding an answer to a problem and using it. In my > experience, it's a good way to make people pull back, not venture > outside the tried and true, become apathetic, and quickly become > employed somewhere else. > > I've found that if I can explain to somebody how they could improve on > what they have, and explain to them why I feel my way is better, then > they walk away happy, and feel like they're learning, too. Then > (usually) they do get better, and learn. > I'm a sys admin. I never told anyone I was a programmer. A few months ago I got yanked into a coder meeting and one of my Perl Scripts was on the wall in 4 foot glory and our manager was pointing out how NOT to write code. He never asked me why I did any of the things I did and to be honest I'm not entirely sure why he took my script b/c it was working as expected and not really anything anyone but I used. Long story short all the coders busted my chops except for one who commended my: --boring, cautious, obvious over commented code-- While I never complained officially (although I did post on Perl Monks) the manager got fired for doing this to others. So maybe busting a coder's chops for no reason isn't a smart thing to do. Your way seems much more reasonable. PS -- I still write boring, obvious, cautious & over commented code. (I comment a lot b/c I might do something and three months later need to know what it is I did and why. I'm a Sys Admin I don't code everyday.) -- Lou Moran [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://ellem.dyn.dhs.org:5281/ (OS X)
