Should Have Paid Me More

Below you will see some code I ran into a couple days ago.  It is one of those things that took me back to 3rd grade math and made me second guess myself.  If you look there is a new integer declared and it is set to zero.  Then a loop starts in reverse order to iterate through some tabs which are always going to be a quantity of 5.  What is interesting is that the integer is multiplied by -1.  At first glance it made sense, multiply 1 times -1 you get -1, 2 times -1 = -2.  But the value of intTabCounter was never being set inside the loop.  So it appears that it was always zero.  And sure enough as I debugged the code it was always zero.  So it was completely useless.

Dim intTabCounter As Integer = 0

For intTabIndex As Integer = tcNewsDayTabs.Tabs.Count - 1 To 0 Step -1
tabDate = Date.Today.AddDays((intTabCounter * -1))
tabDate = NewsUtil.FindBusinessDayDate(tabDate.AddDays(1), ldTabPanelDates)
ldTabPanelDates.Add(intTabIndex, tabDate)
Next intTabIndex


This is an example of a time something looks good on the surface but has no functional value once you look a little deeper.  In a bad economy like we have these days I look at this as job security.

Note: You may wish to read Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV of this series to gain context.

As demonstrated in Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV of this series, the Plus application was a mess. It never really worked and when the desired functionality was simulated, it caused other issues. To be fair, the department that requested Plus in the first place was also a mess – its manager not only couldn’t manage the department’s 150 employees, but further had no understanding of what they did or what they were supposed to be doing (and those two things were definitely not the same). As a result, change requests for the Plus application had no order, logic, or sanity, and often contradicted other change requests made by the same department slightly earlier. It was a constant cycle of “Make this change” “Why did you change that? Change it back!” “Make this change”. continue reading…

Note: You may wish to read Part I, Part II, and Part III of this series to gain context.

One of the prevailing requirements for the Plus application was that it allow field staff to enter data offline and “sync” it over the Interwebs at their leisure. In addition, the application had to get updated schedule information and previously-synced data and show it to the user while offline. As you know, the most logical design that meets this requirement is a disconnected client-server model. Therefore, a server had to be built to accept connections from the client, process incoming data, and send back schedule  information and previously-synced data. continue reading…

So I had worked in a company that specialized in maintenance and service.  During my time at this organization I started a career as a software developer.  I dare say that it came naturally to me, being the lazy person that I am.  At this organization there were 2 developers that were primarily Java developers.  At the time, I was using .Net.  Oddly enough, I learned most of what I know from those 2 developers in spite of writing in different languages and for this I am eternally grateful.

So one day I decided that I may have better opportunities somewhere else.  So I got a new job at an insurance company and was now exposed to a very pure .Net atmosphere.  The main role I would have would be developing and maintaining the portal that they used for their agents.  Seems relatively simple.  Certainly there would be some quirkiness to this portal but the whole thing would be able to reuse a few abstract patterns right?

continue reading…

A few years ago I interviewed with a regional insurance company for a “Senior Software Developer” position.    The application I would be working on was described as an Online application that allowed the companies agents to quote and sign business.  It was a ‘robust and flexible’ system that had been developed and enhanced over 9 years.  The application was primarily developed by consultants (Boy THAT should have been a red flag), but the division was recently acquired by the regional insurance company and the new management wanted to do development in house.  I was to be the first of a dozen new hires.  I took the job.

continue reading…