> The fact that I technically only asked how long the fix would take is something only an engineer would bother pointing out. -_-
Well excuse me for not fitting your prejudiced profile for a neurotypical extroverted 20-something white male. Yes, I might have needed the clarification between "how long will it take you to paint the room" vs "how long until the room is back the way it was with the walls in a different colour", but you help noone when you talk down to the painter like that. You asked a question and I misunderstood, because we use slightly different language and I have a ton of other things to think about all the time.
Can we stop this "oh let's treat engineers like they're children with mental development issues" already? I'm not some god in an ivory tower, I don't want you to kneel before me, I just want the usual everyday respect you afford to your peers and to engage with me as one professional with another.
Agreed. As an engineer, I can also claim that if I say "we can deliver that March 15th", then I get a argument about why can't it go out with the Feb 28th release and why is it going to take 30 days to do something simple and why ... all because marketing people can't understand delivery cycles.
So, let's just not have that type of conversation at all.
Ever talk to a contractor about a home renovation, or even a painter as in this story? If you start questioning why something will take so long, in my experience the usual answer is something like "if you think you know better than me, do it yourself." Especially if they are good at what they do. Most good tradespeople have more work than they can do, and will just walk if they think a customer is going to be a pain in the ass. How often will developers take that approach?
Well tradespeople usually work for multiple clients on smallish projects. For good tradespeople, a significant number of those projects come from repeat customers, which means their optimal strategy is not to serve all customers equally, but to prioritize those that are more likely to bring repeat business down the road. A difficult customer is usually not someone you want to do repeat business with, so they get "managed out" pretty reliably.
Most software engineers, on the other hand, work for one big customer at a time (your employer). And though I agree that a bad employer at the end of day is detrimental to your career, you cannot afford to switch jobs on trivial matters, on risk of getting labeled as a grasshopper. That's why you do not see developers "walking".
If I am talking to my PM I will say,
"It will take me an hour to fix that. But I'm working on project XYZ right now so it will be sometime next week. If you need me to do this first though, just let me know."
Because to me part of being a PM is deciding project priority.
In room painting analogy, "Painting the bedroom will take about 2 days of work. But I am working on the kitchen cabinets which will take at least 2 more weeks. Do you want me to stop that to work on the bedroom so you can move in your bedroom furniture first?"
Well excuse me for not fitting your prejudiced profile for a neurotypical extroverted 20-something white male. Yes, I might have needed the clarification between "how long will it take you to paint the room" vs "how long until the room is back the way it was with the walls in a different colour", but you help noone when you talk down to the painter like that. You asked a question and I misunderstood, because we use slightly different language and I have a ton of other things to think about all the time.
Can we stop this "oh let's treat engineers like they're children with mental development issues" already? I'm not some god in an ivory tower, I don't want you to kneel before me, I just want the usual everyday respect you afford to your peers and to engage with me as one professional with another.
This kind of treatment is not ok.