I am just starting out

[Andrew J Bromage]

G'day all.

On Mon, May 26, 2003 at 08:39:11AM +0100, Sarah Thompson wrote:

> Unfortunately, it probably *is* just you, which is a pity. As and when you 
> get into management, you'll have a queue of people longing to work for you, 
> believe me! :-)

:-)

[horror stories deleted]

Since I wrote this, I realised that part of the issue is what field
of development you work in.

I work on a 2MLOC database server.  This is a very complex piece of
software, and it's just not enough to "know C++" to maintain software
like this.  It's far more important to hire someone who can handle that
much complexity.  I can envisage that software fields like real time,
embedded and safety-critical systems areas (e.g. avionics, biomedical
etc) or commercial operating systems/compilers/etc probably have
related (though distinct) problems.

When you get beyond a certain level of complexity or risk, it's far
more important to get the right person than to get the currently
correct skill set, because the right person can learn the right
skills along with all the other stuff they have to learn.

Cheers,
Andrew Bromage