• masterX244 (unregistered)

    NullPointerException("No place for something")

  • Debra (unregistered) in reply to masterX244

    can you send me a jar for this exception because it does not show up properly here

  • (nodebb)

    All her existing jars are full of other substances, which prevents her from being able to accomplish anything useful at work.

  • (nodebb)

    Beyond the real WTF of moving from .NET to Java (why pick an inferior language!?), I have to say that the ending at least was good. But this sort of thing is all too common. It seems that your average CxO doesn't really care as much about "their" company as they lead you to believe and expect everyone else to be if they're willing to play shit like this. Why do you suspect this is? Arrogance? e.g. I can do it, so I will? Ignorance? Do they just think the person is skilled because they believe their friend, and then refuse to see that they were lied to?

    With how often you see situations like this come up, there has to be an underlying reason why these types of people consistently try to sink their own company by making stupid choices and then trying to go along with it to the bitter end. Arrogance based on their position and a refusal to admit that they could ever be wrong (so essentially megalomania) seem to be the most likely answer ("I'm the boss, how can I be wrong?")

  • gnasher729 (unregistered)

    It was some CxO, not the company owner. As the CxO, it's not his company and not his money that gets spent when he helps a friend. Obviously, in a privately held company that kind of behaviour would be a sackable offence.

  • Anon (unregistered)

    Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException at com.initech.wtfclient.ClueBat.swing(ClueBat.java:5306) at com.initech.wtfclient.Main.main(Main.java:840)

  • im_a_robot (unregistered) in reply to DocMonster

    Beyond the real WTF of moving from .NET to Java (why pick an inferior language!?),

    TRWTF is thinking that ".NET" is a single language

  • Dave (unregistered) in reply to DocMonster

    I've worked for enough idiots that I think idiocy is the most likely scenario. If someone doesn't understand what a role entails, it's hard to tell what's incompetence and what's just a few problems getting used to a new environment.

    People running small businesses mostly aren't any good at doing so, they're just good at bringing in the work. Running things well will improve profit margins, but in my experience of you don't have enough margin to run things badly and still come out ok, you don't have much of a business.

  • (nodebb) in reply to DocMonster

    I don't believe Kiesha "lost her job" through firing so much as promotion.

  • (nodebb) in reply to DocMonster

    I don't believe Kiesha "lost her job" through firing so much as promotion.

  • Scott (unregistered) in reply to DocMonster

    The old saying, "don't ascribe to malice what can be explained by stupidity" (or something like that).

    It's certainly not that all managers are stupid; I've worked for some really competent people over the years. But the thing we don't realize until we've gotten experience is that they're just people. They make mistakes, also might not be particularly smart.

    But having a title makes you immune (in many organizations) from legitimate criticism. It has to be a cultural change; when someone's exposed as being incompetent at their job, they need to go, even if they are CTO (or whatever).

  • Little Bobby Tables (unregistered) in reply to Scott

    Heh.

    I worked in a place which had an office at the end nicknamed the "departure lounge". Because every single manager who was installed in that office to manage our team, one after the other, left the company soon afterwards. We used to believe it was because ours was such a challenging team to manage (we were the only team in the building doing actual software development) that their shortcomings as a manager were exposed in very short order -- and out they went.

  • ZZartin (unregistered)

    The real WTF is porting a windows app to Java in the first place, someone in management must have heard java is the new hot thing and goes in more than just coffee cups....

  • koekum (unregistered)

    Sorry, I couldn't gather enough management to write a successful comment. Can you send me one?

  • Quirkafleeg (unregistered)

    The real WTF is how common Keisha-like people there are on the planet, who have the power to do handle anything more than a balloon on a stick.

    Next group stand up meeting: "The balloon burst"...

  • (nodebb) in reply to Mr. TA

    some would say Kiesha's jars were empty instead of full

  • (nodebb)

    The first red flag was "Don't worry," they said, "Intelligenuity only employs the most brillant programmers."

  • Dave (unregistered) in reply to Little Bobby Tables

    Whereas I'd read that as whoever's doing the hiring not understanding what the position requires. TRWTF is, that's something I only learnt from experience

  • Gumpy_Gus (unregistered)

    Ah, yes, our place had several Keishas:

    #1: Knew LISP. So we let her write a simple program in LISP. A month later, she was still asking about the difference between CR and CDR.

    #2: Was hired as a condition of her very Einsteiny husband's employment contract. Was asked to write a simple file reader, doable in about an hour. A week later she handed in some weird code that manipulated linked lists of characters.

    #3: Didn't know a thing but very quickly picked up three computer languages. On her own wrote some tricky data import utilities. And so on, success after success. Turned out, she hadn't been born as a female.

    COINCIDENCE?

  • (nodebb) in reply to Gumpy_Gus

    Are....are you seriously intimating that women can't code?

  • Matt (unregistered) in reply to Niroht

    There is a difference between "men are taller than women" and "every man is taller than every woman".

  • (nodebb) in reply to Dave

    Some of the HR people I have seen have just gone along with a "standard" formula. "You are looking for a senior developer, so that means at least 10 years in the industry." This kind of thinking leads to needing 10 years experience with software that was only released 4 years ago, and a version that was only released last year. Are you recruiting from the people who wrote the software in the first place?

  • Dave (unregistered) in reply to Niroht

    I'd assume not seriously, but neckbeards exist...

  • Friedrice the Great (unregistered) in reply to DocMonster

    Many CxO's - especially the "E" variety - are sociopaths. So of course they're right!

  • Friedrice the Great (unregistered) in reply to DocMonster

    Paula Bean had a child?

  • Gumpy_Gus (unregistered) in reply to Niroht

    OOPS, that did come out a bit wrong. Let's see if I can recoup my losses: My father was in the audience of a lecture by Grace Hopper. We've named one of our cats "Grace", after Ms. Hopper. I was fired by an ex-programmer then manager who was a female. Not sure if that's a plus or minus. I better quit.

  • (nodebb) in reply to Gumpy_Gus

    Thanks for the clarification! Grace is a great name for a cat.

  • (nodebb) in reply to Matt

    There is also a difference between "taller" and "smarter".

  • Scobberlotcher (unregistered) in reply to DrOptableUser

    Being able to code or not is not an issue of how "smart" you are. Its a way of looking at things, and many perfectly fine coders are quite "dumb".

  • Gerrie (unregistered) in reply to Little Bobby Tables

    I swear we worked at the same place! That office was cursed.

  • bvs23bkv33 (unregistered) in reply to Gumpy_Gus

    is mentioning Grace Hopper in programming discussion some sort of Godwin's law?

  • Jaloopa (unregistered) in reply to im_a_robot

    All .net languages are superior to Java. Except J#. The less said about that the better

  • RLB (unregistered) in reply to bvs23bkv33

    No, but mentioning Dijkstra is. Double if (as I've seen more often than I like) you spell it Djikstra.

    (Also: Wirth.)

  • I See Dumb People (unregistered) in reply to Jaloopa

    Your limited knowledge proves some of the points already mentioned in this thread....

  • ~~~ (unregistered) in reply to DocMonster

    I'd say - hubris mixed with technical ignorance.

  • Javanator (unregistered) in reply to Jaloopa

    I would argue that a good programmer can write good code in any turing complete language. People who waste everyones time to argue why 'their' language is superior to any other one are usually just bad programmers or script kiddies.

  • (nodebb) in reply to Scobberlotcher

    Sorry for not being clear. By "smarter" I meant "smarter coder". I agree that other smartnesses are not relevant here.

  • smf (unregistered) in reply to Javanator

    I would argue that a good programmer can write good code in any turing complete language. People who waste everyones time to argue why 'their' language is superior to any other one are usually just bad programmers or script kiddies.

    I would argue that if you don't realise that some languages make certain things easier than others, then you aren't qualified to make that statement.

    Assembler is a turing complete language, you're saying you can write good assembly code in the same time as someone using c#?

  • BullyToBullies (unregistered)

    I wonder if most of the readers and authors realize that > 90% is this site is basically a form of simple bullying. You might lose the bully-flavor, once you stop re-iterating previous bullying actions. (I've read the Paula article and frankly, it's quite enough by now) A lot of senior programmers get off by criticizing / bullying others and it's mostly just because their own insecurity (oh noes, I'm replaceable!). I prefer (senior) programmers without a schoolyard mentality.

  • medievalist (unregistered) in reply to Jaloopa

    All .net languages are superior to Java

    Man, you're setting the bar so low even Shemika Charles couldn't limbo under it.

  • jay (unregistered)

    'Next group stand up meeting: "The balloon burst"...'

    "The balloon mysteriously disappeared, and in it's place there mysteriously appeared this damp rag."

  • Bosco (unregistered)

    Keisha huh? Not Jane? Not Sarah? Why not Sambo? A pretty good example of racist misogyny.

  • (nodebb) in reply to BullyToBullies

    90% is this site is basically a form of simple bullying.

    How so? There's certainly criticism of bad code and humorously improper behaviour, but it's not tied to any individual or group, and usually it's not even tied to an organisation. Wouldn't bullying require someone to be bullied?

  • (>'-')> (unregistered)

    TRWTF is not having used the superior language in the first place, and having voluntarily gone with .NET instead.

  • (nodebb) in reply to Javanator

    I would argue that a good programmer can write good code in any turing complete language.

    Have you seen what qualifies as Turing-complete languages?

  • Born as a Female (unregistered) in reply to Matt

    Yet the clear implication of Grumpy's comment is that women can't code.

  • diss-Connect-ed kind of person (unregistered) in reply to Little Bobby Tables

    Ooh. I worked at a company liked this as well. Then one day some poor guy WHO WAS REALLY GOOD at his job, got allocated the office and he spent the next week or so being paranoid etc. Then we moved office buildings. He stuck around way beyond when I left.

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