The DevDiscuss Podcast begins with an interview and ends with commentary from listeners — and we like to feature the actual voices from our community!
This week's prompt: “What has been the biggest change in software development in the past 5 years that has affected your work the most?”
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Top comments (34)
What is the biggest change in software that affected my work?
5 years ago, I would have said: we finally take usability seriously.
Today I say we are now taking seriously usability for ourselves, for the developer tools.
There is a macho culture where people love complex software, like VI or even GIT in its advanced usages.
It's complex?... No... It's powerful they say, WE are power users... but maybe you are too stupid to read the fucking manual.
I say it's even better when you don't impose the complexity on your users.
Developers too are users.
Developers too can be easily distracted from the business task they have at hand and get stuck in a rabbit hole,
with obscure configuration formats, or a cryptic error messages.
There is no silver bullet in software development,
but there are lot of opportunities to make things 1% better.
Help to prevent common mistakes.
Write clear error messages that point to a solution.
Use more empathy when you write documentation.
Those things matter.
At the end of the day we are users too and we deserve better developer tools.
This is often the result of bad documentation or the lack of short, concise examples. If your documentation reads like an abstract math book, that I am not interested in using your software.
Thanks, @jmfayard ! Any chance you'd be interested in calling in to record this message? It only takes a minute 😊 If so, the instructions are listed above. Thanks!
Done :)
I think the biggest change has been the maturation of the bootcamp space. I was not a part of bootcamps but they were just becoming a thing when I was earlier in my career. I feel now that that has normalized, it's really broadened the landscape of the software industry in ways that may not directly affect me as a more experienced developer but really have changed the way the whole industry conducts its business.
We have a long way to go, but it's very different in mostly good ways compared to when I started.
Sites like Netlify & Vercel brought the hosting game to a new level. It's never been easier to hosting applications within seconds allowing me to test new things and push new apps regularly and without hassle.
Mine has to be the change in provisioning infrastructure, databases and web hosting. It's generally cloud based.
Thanks, @bernardbaker ! Any chance you'd be interested in calling in to record this comment or a similar one? It's a super quick process! Instructions above!
Sure.
Darn! I missed the cut-off for calling in. Apologies @graciegregory .
Native Web Components make working on the frontend fun again. Many of the frontend technologies and those in v8, including recently via Deno, reduce the disparities between implementations and shift away from large external dependencies to simply working directly in the runtime. Things that come to mind that make life easier: template literals, Intl, Custom Elements, Proxy, URL, etc.
Free static hosting site and Firebase. Now I have more chance to showcase my work without worrying about cost. Free tier is gorgeous enough for hobbies and quick work. I don't have to pay for hosting just to host my customized website.
It's really interesting for me that literally every comment here talks about "positive" things.
One of the most negative changes is that literally every company nowadays tracks everything the user does. Sure, this data can be valuable for some insights. But ultimately this tracked data goes either into Scrooge McDuck's safe (it's an asset) or it gets directly sold (you use Google Analytics, so Google now owns your tracked data too).
How has it affected my work? For me, this leads to the fact that I nowadays morally devalue many companies. Because as an employee you have to add this stuff into your code, although you know how bad/shady many companies handle it (e.g. hiding it in 100 sites of TOS). In the long run, this leads to an internet that is controlled by huge companies. 80% of the Browser market is controlled by Google. 80% of the Search Market is controlled by Google. 80% of the whole Internet Infrastructure is controlled by AWS, Google, Microsoft.
And if I don't want to participate, literally 99% of companies are not for me.
Totally hear this. I'd love to hear this as a recording if you'd be interested in submitting a voice memo. Thanks for writing in!
Hey Gracie,
thanks for reaching out,
unfortunately I have read your answer just now.
I will definitely have a look at your episode!
The high / fast development of micro-services. The concept is quite old but has recently started to be very mainstream and used heavily (netflix for example). This has led to the creation of many tools that are really easy to deploy. It has also led to the creation of many cloud services which are only pay as you go.
This led to the creation of many small internal tools that we can reuse with various clients and allowed us to give tailored services. For instance we have a easily deploy-able status system.
The biggest change in software I've experienced over my career has been in the meaning I find in it, rather than a change in the technology that powers it. The perspectives of those who dream and develop software give it substance, and when when we look, or feel, or hear through it and pull a switch — then it has meaning. Today software is a lens of incalculable scale, and the more humans and switches we add — the more it focuses on diversifying the perspectives that shape it. And that is the meaning I find today in software, more so than ever before.
Definitely public cloud services. While we had already started with cloud services earlier than 5 years ago, this space has evolved quite a bit.
There is a lot more around provisioning infrastructure through software and also taking advantage of various managed services that make a bunch of things easier - but also introduces new types of challenges.