Exploitation?

[Hamster]

There are plenty of departments in corporates that do very interesting and very sophisticated software development. I'm in one now (and I wear jeans and a t-shirt to work). My previous job wasn't a software house either, but had close to 1500 software developers working on projects ranging from the mundane to beyond the cutting edge. I have been very well compensated by both, due to the fact that I have skills beyond just "pure SW".

I think that you will find that your assertion is a lot more (but far from always) true for junior dev's than senior dev's. E.g. Banks don't hire senior dev's with 20+ years experience or say 10+ years experience and graduate degrees to sit in a corner and write some isolated application (as Camikazee suggests), although Camikazee is correct that this could easily happen to a junior employee.

I swear you are the first corporate developer to come out and say the work is awesome. Very interesting read indeed

 

[semaphore]

I for one am happy to be out of development houses. The hours are ten times better and no hands being tied with regards to using different technologies.

 

[Gnome]

Development houses, you guys talking about companies like DVT, BBD, etc?

Software outsourcing "specialists" or software chop shop is more what I would call those kinds of companies.

To think you will ever work on a significant or large scale application in such a company I think is a bit naive.

It is a bit hard to explain but if, like myself, you've worked in Gauteng, where those "development" companies were great and everything centred around the financial industry and mining. Then suddenly you move to CT and software development here is about software. Outsourcing is big in Gauteng because the companies don't see IT as their core.

CT however, there are many start-ups in Stellenbosch and the City Bowl. Even the established few real software companies in SA are located here Takealot, Naspers (Kalahari, Pricecheck, etc.), Amazon, Nimbula. Just a few I know of that operate here. Sure that isn't a large list but I can tell you those companies are doing a hell of lot more interesting work and they don't outsource.

Naspers even offers to be an angel investor in a start-up if they like your idea.

If you really love software, move to CT and forget about contracting or working for a chop shop.

 

[semaphore]

Development houses, you guys talking about companies like DVT, BBD, etc?

Software outsourcing "specialists" or software chop shop is more what I would call those kinds of companies.

To think you will ever work on a significant or large scale application in such a company I think is a bit naive.

.

Err.. When I worked at BBD with Hamster we (he still does) worked on software that gets used by millions of people indirectly in SA.

To think that software houses do not do significant development is more naive. Dariel was/is developing an administration system for all the life hospitals the last time i went there for an interview.

 

[cguy]

Development houses, you guys talking about companies like DVT, BBD, etc?

I was actually thinking, Microsoft, Adobe, etc. Companies that make and sell software. For a few years, I worked for a small (~150 people now) SW house in CT that produced its own product, and sold it internationally - I wasn't really thinking of outsourced work, but I would imagine that that also has similar diversity in terms of pay and interest, where I expect that long term out sourcing is probably more interesting work, where a sense of ownership can develop, and short term outsourcing could possibly suffer due to a lack of commitment.

 

[cguy]

I swear you are the first corporate developer to come out and say the work is awesome. Very interesting read indeed

Shhh.. Don't let the secret out...

Seriously though, in the software dev business there is a huge amount of conflation between the enjoyment and appreciation of the work involed, and the "coolness" of the end product that is being produced. For example, I would much rather work on a huge data, HPC type problem which invovles tons of smart coding, maths, and stats that is never visible to the rest of the world, then I would writing yet another killer social app, or game to feed to bored consumers.

 

[zippy]

Yes, it is a generalisation. It's us against you. Our company vs your company. I say the same thing about people living in PTA.

It is all in good spirit



But you are better of working for a software house that specialises in software than in a department at a corporate. Beg to differ?

Yes. Done both. Prefer the corporate myself. I find the people more human and less snobby. When I worked at the software house they had the opinion of themselves and could talk a lot, but where unimpressive when it came to coding. They where very good if the spec was so detailed it was all virtually pseudo code. No challenge at all. No need to think.

I prefer the chaos of corporate "oh my god we gotta do this now, or we'll be fu##%d by our competitors".

I prefer the environment where they present you with a problem in their terminology and ask you to come up with some ideas. Then if it flys, you do the tech spec and start coding, and iteratively fine tune it. It's called software engineering

 

[semaphore]

Yes. Done both. Prefer the corporate myself. I find the people more human and less snobby. When I worked at the software house they had the opinion of themselves and could talk a lot, but where unimpressive when it came to coding. They where very good if the spec was so detailed it was all virtually pseudo code. No challenge at all. No need to think.

I prefer the chaos of corporate "oh my god we gotta do this now, or we'll be fu##%d by our competitors".

I prefer the environment where they present you with a problem in their terminology and ask you to come up with some ideas. Then if it flys, you do the tech spec and start coding, and iteratively fine tune it. It's called software engineering

Lol specs ask Hamster about those. We surely did not get ANY specs.