- Feature Articles
- CodeSOD
- Error'd
-
Forums
-
Other Articles
- Random Article
- Alex's Soapbox
- Announcements
- Best of…
- Best of Email
- Best of the Sidebar
- Bring Your Own Code
- Coded Smorgasbord
- Mandatory Fun Day
- Off Topic
- Representative Line
- News Roundup
- Editor's Soapbox
- Software on the Rocks
- Souvenir Potpourri
- Sponsor Post
- Tales from the Interview
- The Daily WTF: Live
- Virtudyne
Admin
But Git is the best source control tool and money can't buy it, so you're wrong QED
Admin
Admin
https://github.com/account/plans
[image]Admin
that's not git. that's github!
Admin
Admin
Or you can run your own Git repository server, because setting one up is not too difficult: http://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-on-the-Server-Setting-Up-the-Server
Admin
http://what.thedailywtf.com/t/poll-how-does-your-employment-fare-againt-the-joel-test/9325
For those interested.
Admin
That would be my cue to leave the interview ASAP without offending people.
Admin
One thing to keep in mind is that often the worst offenders of the Joel Test are good at keeping it under wraps. Hi, I'm DocMonster. You might remember me from the Halloween story "The Shadow Over Shippoint" which was fluffed up with Lovecraftian writing style to be almost unreadable.
Anyways, I bring it up because when I interviewed at said "ll-rumored e-commerce company" I asked a few of the things on the Joel Test, using it as a good initial gauge of competency. I was told that they used SVN, which was partially true as they did, but only for checking in code and updating, nothing else. Different versions of the software were kept as separate repositories. I was told they did testing, but what they really meant was "Fire up IE and poke around". I was told they used the best tools money could buy, but when I started they were using Visual Studio 2008 and barely upgraded to 2010 after much pleading before I was dismissed. Most tools we asked for were refused by the CTO supposedly because, it was whispered, that his IT budget was actually his executive bonus so naturally he didn't want to use it. I was told quiet working conditions but had to listen to various sales folk. About the only thing they weren't misrepresenting was bug tracking, but rather than use a stable platform they used some half-assed app whipped together by the manager that basically did nothing. During my time as interim lead I actually got us to use FogBugz instead.
So keep this in mind. Just because a place SAYS they use source control doesn't mean they're using it in any way resembling common sense. They can say that they are using the latest and greatest technology because hey, the.NET version is (insert latest version) but the code is still written like .NET 1.1.
There are a lot of crappy companies out there that know about things like the Joel Test and will deliberately mislead you with things that you won't ever find out until you accept an offer and start working there. In fact, it goes beyond just the Joel Test. The worst offenders are good at only one thing: Putting up enough smoke and mirrors to appear competent.
Admin
it's appropriate that that "you're winner!" picture is from a game called "big rigs racing", one of the buggiest games ever released...NO AI, so your "opponent" would NEVER move, NO collision detection, so you could drive straight up cliffs, and bridges might as well not exist, but weren't even needed since you could simply drive down one side and up the other, numbers that didn't even fit in the UI, you could achieve infinite speed in reverse, that's all i can recall off-hand...
Admin
reminds me of a story about a company that used some sort of "tracking software" the managers used. but it ONLY tracked the time the TRACKING PROGRAM WAS RUNNING. so a useless guy who never did a SECOND of work but ran that program all the time got PROMOTED, while a hard working employee whose tracking software was broken (despite her DAILY demands to get it fixed!) got fired...
Admin
reminds me of a story i read: a company measured "productivity" using some sort of tracking software on the computers. RESULT: a good worker who's tracking program broke down (and was never fixed despite her complaining DAILY for MONTHS) got fired, and a LAZY worker who NEVER did a single SECOND of ACTUAL work got promoted! i think most of the other workers quit in protest, i don't remember.